Photo : Mikhail Klimentyev ( AP )

Khabib Nurmagomedov is back in Russia on a victory tour after defending his lightweight championship against Conor McGregor and then defending his honor against Conor McGregor’s entire team. After bringing the belt back to Dagestan yesterday, he and his father Abdulmanap met with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Ulyanovsk today for some grapes and a nice little chat.


Abdulmanap, of course, was as mad at Khabib as anyone; after Khabib sparked a wild melee in the crowd following his victory, Abdulmanap promised, “I am going to regard this severely.” Khabib even joked that his father was going to “smash” him. At their meeting today, Putin asked Abdulmanap to maybe go easy with the smashing, since Khabib won his fight. “I will ask your father not to punish you too strictly, because you achieved the main task, worthily and convincingly,” he said, per an RT translation.


I guess if the crazed dictator who loves to personally meddle in his country’s sports programs asks you to restrain yourself, you have to listen.