CONOR McGREGOR has been attacked by Khabib Nurmagomedov's 'friends' in disgusting scenes in Las Vegas at UFC 229.
Khabib won the lightweight fight by submission in the fourth round to consign McGregor to his second UFC defeat.
But the win has been totally overshadowed by the sickening moments that followed afterwards - when Khabib stormed out of the octagon and his associates crashed in.
Khabib himself leapt out to attack Bellator fighter Dillon Danis, one of McGregor's closest allies in the camp, who trains jujitsu with him. Danis was then escorted out of the arena by police.
At that moment, McGregor had his back to proceedings and was NOT involved.
Moments later he was attacked from behind by two of Khabib's entourage, who landed blows on McGregor when he wasn't looking. It appeared as though McGregor had been set upon but, in new footage to emerge from the fight, the Irishman did get involved before being attacked.
McGregor is seen trying to follow Khabib out of the Octagon, only to be pulled back inside.
He then swings at a member of Khabib’s entourage, before landing back inside the Octagon and walking away.
It is at that moment when Khabib's team-mates Zubaira Tukhugov and Islam Makhachev enter and go for McGregor.
UFC president Dana White refused to hand over the belt to Russian Khabib and later revealed three men had been arrested.
The president said: "Three of his [Khabib's] guys have been arrested and taken to jail. The three guys that were involved in the incident, I believe it was those three, have been arrested and taken to jail right now."
Before the night was out, however, all three men were released after McGregor declined to press charges.
McGregor has appeared to confirm that a rematch is now on the cards with a post from his official Twitter account at 10:20 UK time.
He wrote: "Good knock. Looking forward to the rematch."
After a lengthy delay, Nurmagomedov eventually addressed a media conference at the T-Mobile Arena.
"First of all I want to say sorry to athletic commission Nevada, to Vegas, I know this is not my best side. This is not my best side," he said.
He went on to complain bitterly about McGregor's behavior in the lead-up to the fight that exacerbated the bad blood between the two teams.
"He talk about my religion, he talk about my country, he talk about my father, he come to Brooklyn and he broke bus, he almost killed a couple people - what about this?" he asked reporters.
Stunned Joe Rogan - the respected UFC pundit - believes it was all sparked by something Danis said and an illegal McGregor move in the fight
"Khabib was angry because Conor was grabbing Khabib's gloves," he explained.
"He was hooking against his gloves, he was doing it illegally and Khabib said to [referee] Herb Dean that he did it three times. That's what it was all about. That's why he fired up."
On whether Khabib's moves were pre-planned, Rogan said: "I don't think it's calculated. I think he was in the moment and full of passion.
"I think Conor will come out the victim here and Khabib is going to have a very difficult time getting a visa This is incredibly disappointing - I can't believe we needed more security than we did.
"The fact his friends jumped in the cage and punched McGregor in the face when Conor had no idea that was going to happen, he wasn't even involved in that.
"The whole thing is extremely unfortunate and a black eye on the sport. We couldn't hear what he said but Dillon absolutely was insulting Khabib and that's when he jumped over the fence and attacked him.
"I couldn't believe my eyes when it was happening. When he went over the top and into the crowd, I couldn't believe it."
Hours after the rumble in Vegas, McGregor posted an instagram message confirming his plans to fight again in the future.
“I’ll be back” was his message, along with a picture of the UFC superstar in the Octagon.
There are a number of opponents McGregor could face next, with Georges St-Pierre, Nate Diaz, Dustin Poirier all contenders for a fight.
Nurmagomedov could also fight McGregor again after a blockbuster night that broke UFC viewing records.
Meanwhile, the identities of the Octagon invaders who attacked McGregor were revealed as Zubaira Tukhugov and Islam Makhachev. Tukhugov is the man McGregor claimed was a traitor of Chechnya for working with Dagestan-native Nurmagomedov.
“A true Chechen would never assist in a Dagestani led attack on another Chechen,” McGregor had written on social media in the build-up to the fight.
“A true Chechen would never take orders from a Dagestani man. This is treason. There is no worse than treason.”
By Sunday afternoon the after effects of the brawl have started coming to light.
Khabib’s cousin, Abubakar Nurmagomedov, released a video claiming McGregor had hit him below the eye during the brawl.
“In short, I climbed onto the cage. This Irish b**** hit me,” he said. “But I didn’t hold back either. Bam, boom! – I gave [him] two.”
Abubakar then claimed the woolen hat he was wearing prevented him from landing more blows. "The papakha prevented [me], there was a papakha in my left hand,” added Abubakar.
Welterweight champion Tyrone Woodley, working on BT Sport, explained: "It went into complete pandemonium. Khabib jumped out the octagon. He went after Conor's team-mate Dillon.
"Then Khabib's men went after Conor after he was recovering from a loss. It was complete chaos."
Michael Bisping now thinks Khabib could struggle to get back into America.
"I have never seen anybody make such a mistake in my entire life. Khabib fought brilliantly and did everything perfectly," he said.
"He finished Conor perfectly. That was it. It was revenge. That's all he had to do.
"He had dignity and class all week but now he's ruined it on an epic style. He's absolutely destroyed his reputation.
He could lose his lightweight title and a suspension by the commission. He might have his visa revoked. This is ridiculous.
"This is the beautiful thing about our sport. Two guys step into the octagon even if they hate each other, we've seen it time and time again.
"Grudge matches where they can't understand one another but when the fight is done, the dust is settled and they shake hands and it's over.
"That's what's happened this time. Khabib has destroyed his legacy in my opinion.
"I'm a big fan of Khabib but there's no forgiving what we've seen tonight, I'm sorry.
"Conor is going to be seen as the victim. Khabib blew it. The stories, the public perception, will all be on Conor's side. They'll say he got jumped and everyone will say they feel sorry for him.
"Ultimately Conor might end up winning this fight."
White labelled it a 'dark day' for the sport while UFC star Tony Ferguson slammed Khabib for his actions.
"It was absolutely unprofessional and uncalled for," he said.
"We're trying to clean the sport up and take it towards Olympic level and it was bad part on Khabib.
"He should have taken the win, taken the belt and walked away like a man.
"Then we saw this melee which was embarrassing.
"You have grudge matches in all sports but once you get in the octagon and fight, that's that. I'm upset and I'm appalled."