Usman Nurmagomedov says pump the brakes on criticism of his UFC Shanghai behavior.
On Saturday, a devastated Nurmagomedov rushed to his brother's aide immediately upon Umar Nurmagomedov's knockout loss to Song Yadong. In order to do so, he leaped over his cousins Khabib and Abubakar, and burst through the cage door opening. In the process, he collided with Yadong, and nearly clocked him with a spinning back elbow.
Nurmagomedov did pull back on Yadong. He reached his brother's side as staff tried to contain the situation.
The sequence of events led to criticism from many viewers. But in a statement Sunday, Nurmagomedov tried to reason about the situation, citing brotherhood, as an understandable emotional driving factor.
"Only what has been ordained for us will befall us," Nurmagomedov said on Instagram. "In any situation — Alhamdulillah. People are making such a huge tragedy out of this; they really ought to calm down. There are far worse things; you don’t need to think long — just look at what is happening in the world. And as for the claim that I supposedly wanted to hit his opponent… If I had wanted to, I would have hit him. You spiteful, petty, and envious people—your problem is that you have never known, nor will you ever know, family love and understanding. If you don’t know what a brother means to a brother, then it is not me you should pity, but yourselves."
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