Khabib Nurmagomedov explains Diaz brawl: 'Fights happen between men. It's OK. It's normal.'

While the UFC return of top-lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov is still off the cards for the foreseeable future, the Russian sambo specialist had a little scrap with the Diaz brothers, among many others in the audience and hallways of World Series of Fighting 22. Now he spoke about the incident and revealed how it came about:

"You know, fights happen between men," Nurmagomedov now told MMAjunkie. "It's OK. It's normal. Sometimes it happens. But you know what? I'm a professional fighter. I'm a UFC fighter. I'm here at a very big show in Las Vegas. Lot of people here. Lot of women here. Lot of kids here."

"And I can't fight. I can't fight. And these guys (the Diaz brothers) are beginning to go like crazy with me. But I said, ‘Khabib, you need to stay (calm).' [...] When he began the second time, I went crazy too. I have to protect myself."

Nurmagomedov and Nate Diaz have a bit of history together and feuded multiple times on Twitter. Nurmagomedov feels, what they did was wrong, but that he simply had to protect himself.

"It's OK," he said. "This happened between a few men, a few fighters. In the gym, a lot of times that happens. But I know I'm talking about this too much, but for me, it's normal. For me, it's normal. But I know I'm a professional fighter. I'm a UFC fighter. I cannot fight when there are a lot of people here. But when somebody begins fighting with me, I need to protect myself."

Nurmagomedov is unbeaten in 22 professional fights and currently listed number three in the UFC's official rankings. He is out of action with an injured knee since April of last year, where he managed to beat the current reigning lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos. The 26-year old Russian targets a comeback next year and wants to face the winner of dos Anjos vs. Donald Cerrone.