Getty UFC president Dana White.
Dana White made several strong statements earlier this year about cracking down on illegal streams of UFC cards, but retired UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov apparently didn’t get that memo. That or maybe the 32-year-old legend just didn’t care, because Nurmagomedov appears to have illegally streamed almost the entire main event of Saturday night’s UFC Fight Night card at UFC APEX in Las Vegas with the UFC president sitting right beside him.
Nurmagomedov even took a selfie with White while he did it.
Let’s go main event 👊
@danawhite
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Twitters Reacts to Nurmagomedov’s Gambit
Fightful’s Shakiel Mahjouri was among the first to notice the strange scene on social media.
Mahjouri posted, “Khabib Nurmagomedov is streaming the fights on Instagram… while sitting next to Dana White #UFCVegas22.”
Khabib Nurmagomedov is streaming the fights on Instagram… 🤣 while sitting next to Dana White #UFCVegas22
Nurmagomedov’s Instagram video of Holland vs. Brunson also led to some funny pictures being shared around social media that showed Nurmagomedov wearing a big grin on his face as he sat there right next to White and streamed Brunson’s win over Kevin Holland at UFC Vegas 22.
Can we talk about khabib illegally streaming infront of Dana 😂
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Nurmagomedov & Holland Exchanged Words During Fight
During the fight, Nurmagomedov exchanged a few words with Holland.
If you watched the action live on ESPN, you remember it as one of the most interesting parts of the whole card.
The middleweight contender called out to Khabib between one of the rounds hoping to get some advice from the MMA star about defending against Brunson’s powerful takedowns.
“Khabib, come on!” Holland said.
You can see that moment below.
But Nurmagomedov shouted out his instructions to Holland while he also streamed the action from cageside, so you can see that part of the interaction as captured from Nurmagomedov’s Instagram Live feed below.
Here’s more of the two stars interacting during the fight.
Big Win for Brunson
Brunson defeated Holland at UFC Vegas 22 by unanimous decision. Judges scored the bout 49-46, 49-46 and 49-45.
The 37-year-old veteran Brunson has won four UFC fights in a row, and he now seems to be on the verge of nearing title contention at 185 pounds.
According to ESPN, Brunson could be facing Paulo Costa next. Costa has one loss on his record, and that is to titleholder Israel Adesanya.
How does Brunson vs. Costa sound?
(via @arielhelwani)
Holland had his moments in the fight, but he couldn’t consistently stop Brunson from taking him down to the canvas.
While the 28-year-old did appear to stun his opponent a few times in the fight with sharp strikes and even managed to become the first UFC fighter to score a takedown over Brunson, it wasn’t near enough for him to earn the victory.
If you missed the action, you can probably watch the replay on ESPN+.
That, or you could just check out Nurmagomedov’s Instagram Live post below of almost the entire main event showdown.
Because Nurmagomedov captured it sitting right next to White.
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Dana White Sits Right Next to Illegal Streamer [LOOK]