“My father passed this down to me. Now, I want to pass this down to you.” Khabib Nurmagomedov’s announcement on X about his new ‘Papakha’ NFT collection has turned into a point of dispute in the MMA world. ‘The Eagle’s involvement with online currency didn’t sit well with a lot of fans. But when he deleted his social media post while reports of him earning around $4.5 million from the project started making the rounds, the backlash grew fast, with people throwing out “scamming” accusations. Now, the ex-155lbs king has finally decided to open up about it.  

In the growing wave of criticism, Conor McGregor was right on the frontline, calling his bitter rival out. ‘The Notorious’ took it to X and wrote, “There is just no way good guy Khabib used his late father’s name and Dagestan’s culture to scam his fans and fire-sell a bunch of digital NFTs online, then delete everything after they were sold.” He even claimed that Khabib basically “robbed” the fans of their money. However, with the heat building up, the retired undefeated legend finally addressed why he deleted the social media post that sparked all the ruckus in the first place. 

Khabib Nurmagomedov finally addresses why he stepped away from social media amid the NFT “scam” allegations

Khabib Nurmagomedov posted on his Telegram account, “I had the pleasure of working with Telegram and Khabib on the Papakha gift collectibles, and to clarify, Pavel did not remove any tweets or posts. Because people kept asking about purchasing after the auction had already closed, I advised Khabib to take down the old posts and update them with new ones so everyone had the right information. Khabib has been fully supportive from the start and posted about the successful conclusion of the Papakha auction to clear up any confusion.”  

Well, this Telegram statement is starting to feel more like a joint explanation from Khabib and Telegram CEO Pavel Durov rather than something coming only from him. Still, it has to be recognized that the UFC legend deleting the post right in the middle of his verbal spat with Conor McGregor definitely created some confusion. Especially when he originally positioned the NFTs as “gifts”, but in reality, people had to purchase them as an investment.

But at least now we finally know why Khabib actually stepped back from social media when the crypto backlash hit its peak. And to be fair, Khabib has already uploaded a post on his socials announcing that the auction has ended.  

“The auction has ended and all Papakha has been sold.” Khabib wrote on X. “Appreciate everyone who participated in it, and become holder of this exclusive digital gift, gift with value, that you can share with your friends and loved ones. Thank you for trust. Only on Telegram.” 

Still, even after the details about Khabib Nurmagomedov stepping away from social media have come out, which might calm down some of the allegations from Conor McGregor and others, it doesn’t mean the discussion around his frequent involvement with cryptocurrency and online businesses will cool off, too. In fact, prominent journalist Ariel Helwani has now weighed in on the topic. 

Ariel Helwani believes the online business game doesn’t really fit with ‘The Eagle’s persona 

After Khabib Nurmagomedov retired from professional MMA, he became much more active in the online business world, promoting different crypto and investment platforms. For example, ‘The Eagle’ backed a “Halal” investment platform called Wahed and also worked with Multibank Group. And while there’s an ongoing debate about whether a superstar of his stature should dive into crypto and investment-based ventures, Ariel Helwani believes it does affect his persona in some ways. 

“I had saw the tease, it had nothing to do with what he was ultimately selling, and you were referencing this symbol, your father, the history, the lineage, and it just ends up being this, yeah, it does feel a little bit funny, as we kind of joked about it a couple of days ago,” Helwani stated on the Ariel Helwani show.

Coming to the question of whether Khabib actually scammed his fans or not, Helwani believes Conor McGregor only made those accusations because of their personal rivalry.

“And now, obviously Conor is calling it a scam, and there’s a very personal rivalry there, and I’m not gonna go that far, but that doesn’t jive with the persona that we have sort of linked Khabib to, which is honorable, pure, this, that and the other.” He added. 

Well, with the discussion around Khabib Nurmagomedov and his online NFT sales still going strong, do you think he made the right call by promoting them? Let us know in the comments below.