UFC: Khabib Nurmagomedov walked through Las Vegas airport and nobody cared

Khabib Nurmagomedov is escorted out of the arena after defeating Conor McGregor. Photo / Getty

After publicly embarrassing Conor McGregor, defending his UFC belt and sparking a wild brawl that rocked combat sport, it's safe to say Khabib Nurmagomedov was one of the biggest name in the sporting world this week — not just the longest.

Try telling that to the people at Las Vegas airport.

Barely 24 hours after having his face plastered across newspapers, the 30-year-old Russian, wearing his signature hoodie and a UFC backpack, walked unbothered by fans before boarding his flight back home.

ESPN journalist Arash Markazi appeared to be the only one who stopped Khabib, who was until then left untouched by media.

"No one bothered him," Markazi said. "Nurmagomedov was less than 24 hours removed from winning arguably the biggest fight in UFC history, but he walked through the airport unnoticed despite an outfit that screamed, 'Hey, I'm a UFC fighter!'

"He almost seemed surprised when someone asked for his picture near his gate before he returned to being an inconspicuous traveller waiting for his flight to board."

I was at the airport with Khabib Nurmagomedov less than 24 hours after the biggest win of his career. Only a couple of people recognized him. It shouldn’t have been like that but his postfight actions overshadowed making Conor McGregor tap as he predicted.https://t.co/b5sG25MAbE pic.twitter.com/c9625DYPkc

— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) October 8, 2018

KHABIB'S CHEEKY JAB AT DANA

The UFC is probably the only place on earth where you can publicly threaten your boss and get away with it.

Exhibit A: Khabib Nurmagomedov.

The Dagestani superstar's brazen fly-kick to set off a chaotic brawl had T-Mobile Arena up in arms.

"If I put this belt on you, everybody is going to throw s**t into the Octagon," Dana White warned Khabib after the fight died down

White later confirmed Khabib would be keeping his lightweight championship title after calls for him to be banned from the UFC erupted.

It looked to be a good move from the 49-year-old, for his own sake.

In an Instagram post walking the line between cheeky and downright menacing, Khabib sat on the hood of white's black BMW with the belt around his waist and iconic headpiece in tow.

"@danawhite you lucky that you give my belt, or I would smash your car, I know your parking location," he said.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Хабиб Нурмагомедов (@khabib_nurmagomedov)

MCGREGOR PLUMMETS

McGregor's fourth round defeat not only booted down the queue for another crack at the lightweight crown. The former double-champ's UFC ranking also took a nosedive.

After being submissed in the fourth round against Khabib, the Irishman dropped six spots in the UFC's pound-for-pound rankings, slotting in behind former flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson.

Current pound-for-pound rankings:

1. Daniel Cormier (heavyweight)

2. Khabib Nurmagomedov (lightweight)

3. TJ Dillashaw (bantamweight)

4. Max Holloway (featherweight)

5. Georges St-Pierre (middleweight)

6. Tyron Woodley (welterweight)

7. Demetrious Johnson (flyweight)

8. Conor McGregor (lightweight)

9. Stipe Miocic (heavyweight) / Henry Cejudo (flyweight)