"Why are people who aren’t us, trying to take our jobs" - When Khabib Nurmagomedov was slammed by Ebanie Bridges for calling ring girls 'useless'
Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov's views on ring girls in mixed martial arts did not sit well with everyone.
In 2021, the Dagestani Hall of Famer was questioned about the absence of ring girls from his own promotion, Eagle FC. He responded by questioning the purpose of ring girls in a mixed martial arts setting.
"I don’t want to offend anyone, ring girls are the most useless people in martial arts. What is their function? I have a question, you can show it is the second round that is on the screen. Do they develop the sport? I realise that it is a history. History knows many mistakes. We read history to avoid mistakes of the past in the future. If we look in the history it says they are useless. That is my personal opinion."
Check out Khabib Nurmagomedov's comments below on Twitter:
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Khabib Nurmagomedov: Ring girls are the most useless people in martial arts.
😂🤣🔥 https://t.co/OOSEHsWuKI
Australian professional boxer and former ring girl herself, Ebanie Bridges, had hit back at Khabib Nurmagomedov in an interview with Pub Talk. She defended ring girls and argued that it was a good commercial opportunity for her.
“I was a ring girl. I love combat sports, I grew up with it, so for me to be at the fights. I loved it. I got paid mad money, probably more than some of the fighters to sit ringside. I’d be walking around in a G-string – they don’t do the G-strings these days but back in my heyday, that’s how we used to do it. Why are people who aren’t us, trying to take our jobs away from us? We love it, I loved being a ring girl. I don’t think it’s useless. I loved being part of the entertainment, being paid to watch those fights."
Sean O'Malley claims Israel Adensaya's middleweight dominance is superior to Khabib Nurmagomedov's at lightweight
UFC bantamweight contender Sean O'Malley recently compared the dominance of two of the greatest champions in modern history, Israel Adesanya and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
O'Malley believes Adesanya has completely taken over the UFC middleweight division in a way that even Nurmagomedov did not manage. He said on his YouTube channel:
“Adesanya has beat every single middleweight in the top five currently. That’s gangster… It’s another division. There’s no real heavy grapplers, heavy wrestlers, besides Bo Nickal, but he’s a little way out from the title. How long’s it been since somebody took over the game that long? Khabib didn’t really do it."
While 'The Last Stylebender' has more title fights and defenses under his belt, Nurmagomedov holds the elusive unbeaten record. Israel Adesanya has two losses on his MMA resume both in title fights in the past two years.
Check out his comments below [21:21]: