UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is a member of Team MMA Dagestan, while also being a longtime rival of former two division UFC champion Conor McGregor.
MMA Team Dagestan would take to Twitter recently to reveal that Nurmagomedov, Islam Makhachev, Zubaira Tukhugov, Abubakar Nurmagomedov, Mairbek Taisumov and Zelim Imadaev are expected to compete at UFC 242, which hasn’t been confirmed at this time.
Fighters that are expected to perform at #UFC242:
— MMA TEAM DAGESTAN (@MMATeamDagestan) May 5, 2019
Khabib Nurmagomedov
Islam Makhachev
Zubaira Tukhugov
Abubakar Nurmagomedov
Mairbek Taisumov
Zelim Imadaev #UFCAbuDhabi pic.twitter.com/CDRggUtOwA
McGregor would get wind of what MMA Team Dagestan posted and would then post the following on Twitter, which has since been deleted:
“Team Meldonium, 3 on this list caught on performance enhancers in the past already. Islam, Zubaira and Mairbek. Dirty smelly rats all of them.”
Makhachev did test positive for meldonuium, but USADA issued him a no fault finding. Tukhugov was issued a two year suspension in 2016 for a failed drug test, while Taisumov was also issued a six month suspension for a failed drug test.
The other two fighters on Team MMA Dagestan that were a part of the tweet, which were Khabib and Abubakar Nurmagomedov, have not failed any drug tests.
