The dislike between UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and former champion Conor McGregor is real and it is deep. And in recent days, it has gotten ugly as the men have taken to social media to snipe at each other.

In the most recent round, McGregor posted a photo of Nurmagomedov and his wife, who was wearing a hijab in the custom of the couple’s Muslim religion. He wrote, “Your wife is a towel mate.”

McGregor has subsequently deleted the tweet.

View photos (Twitter/@TheNotoriousMMA) More

It was as low class and as ugly as it gets, taunting a person about his religion. Nurmagomedov didn’t hold back in his response, referencing a New York Times story that noted that McGregor is being investigated by Irish police for an alleged sexual assault said to have occurred in December.

Rapist, you are Rapist.

You are a hypocrite who is not responsible for your actions. Justice will find you.

We will see.@TheNotoriousMMA pic.twitter.com/317rLK5TVN — khabib nurmagomedov (@TeamKhabib) April 3, 2019





The tweets, predictably, garnered considerable negative attention, prompting UFC president Dana White to enter the fray.

White normally tries to stay out of such incidents and when there has been offensive language used in the past, he’s sloughed it off as “the fight business.” This time, White was bothered enough to release a statement.

He wrote:

“I am aware of the recent social media exchange between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor. The ongoing situation has escalated to a level that is unacceptable. As such, we are taking the necessary steps to reach out to both athlete camps and this situation is being addressed by all parties internally.” — UFC president Dana White

We’ll see if it slows the bitterness and angry rhetoric, but this step was badly needed from White.

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