Usman Nurmagomedov is never going to apologize for caring about his brother’s well-being, but he firmly denies trying to attack his brother’s opponent at UFC Shanghai.
The drama unfolded after Song Yadong scored a career-defining win by blasting Umar Nurmagomedov with a perfectly timed, fight-ending uppercut. Immediately after the stoppage, Usman (the reigning PFL lightweight champion) jumped into the cage to check on his brother. In the process, he collided with Song, who was running around the octagon celebrating.
The internet quickly speculated that Usman tried to hit Song with a sneaky elbow strike during the bump. Nurmagomedov took to social media to shut down those allegations:
“People are making such a huge tragedy out of this, they should just calm down. There are things far worse in the world… And regarding the claims that I supposedly wanted to hit his opponent, if I had wanted to, I would have hit him.”
Family Ties and Post-Fight Respect
For his part, Song Yadong didn’t even break stride during his celebration. Later, he approached the Nurmagomedov corner to pay his respects to head coach Khabib.
Usman also fired back at those criticizing his emotional reaction: “You angry, petty, and jealous people. Your problem is that you have never had, and never will have, an understanding of family love. If you don’t know what a brother means to his brother, then I’m not the one you should feel sorry for, you should feel sorry for yourselves.”
Despite suffering only the second, and arguably most brutal, loss of his career, Umar later released a statement confirming he was doing fine.
