MOSCOW — This Saturday, Abu Dhabi will host the much anticipated Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, match between Khabib Nurmagomedov, a Russian mixed martial artist, and Dustin Poirier, an American.

Khabib, 30, is nicknamed “The Eagle” and holds the longest undefeated streak in mixed martial arts, or MMA, with 27 wins and no losses. He is the first Russian to win a UFC title. His latest fight with Conor McGregor drew a lot of money and attention and aroused certain political issues. During the traditional pre-match trash talk, the flamboyant Irishman fired off insults at Khabib to spice up the event. Nurmagomedov defeated McGregor in the fourth round via submission in a dominant performance. No sooner had the fight ended, however, did Nurmagomedov​ scale the octagon and try to attack McGregor's teammate, resulting in a massive brawl between the two teams.

Nurmagomedov was fined $500,000 and banned for nine months, while McGregor faced a $50,000 fine and a six-month suspension. Team Khabib was extremely unhappy with the decision, seeing it as a political move. “Politics forever,” read the official Twitter account of Nurmagomedov.

“I’d like to apologize before the Athletic Committee of Nevada, the city of Las Vegas," Nurmagamedov said after the fight. "This is not the best side of me. But I am only human. Everybody is talking about how I jumped outside the octagon. But [McGregor] spoke about my religion, my father, crashed the bus, hurt [my people]. My father taught me to respect other people. Now I am an unrivaled UFC champion. I wouldn’t want someone to trash talk opponents, their religion and the nation. One must not touch such things.”