A little-known fact about highly-touted UFC welterweight and middleweight prospect Khamzat Chimaev: He flew to Ireland in 2018 in an attempt to ‘beat up’ Conor McGregor for insulting Khabib Nurmagomedov during their now-infamous feud in the leadup to their lightweight title bout at UFC 229.
Chimaev, who was stopped by airport police, spilled the details to Russian freelance reporter Adam Zubayraev ahead of his welterweight fight against Li Jingliang on Saturday.
“At that time, I was fighting as an amateur or a pro record of 1-0 when that happened,” Chimaev said (h/t Joe Coleman of Talk Sport).