Retired UFC icon Khabib Nurmagomedov has revealed he felt as though he could have ‘killed’ Conor McGregor when the two faced off back in October of 2018.

The fight was one of the most heavily anticipated UFC events of all time and this was further proven by the show selling over 2.4 million pay-per-view buys, which is still the highest buy-rate in their sporting category.

Khabib undeniably dominated the fight throughout the first three rounds before taking down McGregor in the fourth and putting him into a rear-naked choke - an iconic move for ‘The Eagle,’ which has helped him win so many fights across his career.

It had the same impact here as McGregor was forced to tap out and concede victory.

The referee on the night Herb Dean was also forced to intervene in the chokehold in order to prevent further damage to the Irishman. 

Fast forward three years later, the Russian has spoken out on the severity of the stoppage, saying that he was prepared to do anything to get the win.

He told RT: “You saw what happened, remove Herb Dean and you, yourself will understand whether I would have gone to the end or not.

A person can die from such a grip. If I were to strangle you a little behind the scenes, you would understand what it is about.

“When a person strangles you and has been doing this for 30 years, this is a cold weapon. If there had been no referee, what could have happened? [Dean] removed my hands, he removed my grip. We understand everything, we understand what could have been.” 

With the bad blood fuelling the fire before their fight in 2018, it’s no surprise that the Russian wanted it to go the distance. Both fighters were adamant to do as much damage to each other as possible.

This even went beyond the cage, as after the fight was stopped, Khabib leapt out of the Octagon to launch an attack on McGregor’s close friend Dillon Danis. The attack started a controversial brawl between both camps and even saw the defeated McGregor being attacked by Khabib’s close relatives in the cage.

Khabib apologised for the incident and said it was provoked by the Irishman and his team’s continuous trash-talk, which targeted his nation, family and religion. 

And the ill-feelings didn’t end there; even up until this past month, there was still drama between both fighters, with most interactions from McGregor's side coming via Twitter. 

One thing’s for sure, if The Eagle ever decides to step back into the Octagon, fans would love to see the two face-off again to finally settle the beef once and for all.