McGregor's Accusations Against Nurmagomedov
UFC star Conor McGregor has publicly criticized former rival Khabib Nurmagomedov regarding his recent non-fungible token (NFT) drop. The collection featured digital representations of "papakhas," a traditional hat from Nurmagomedov's native region of Dagestan, which were offered on Telegram.
McGregor expressed his disapproval in a now-deleted post on X (formerly Twitter), stating, "There is just no way good guy Khabib used his late father’s name, as well as Dagestan’s culture, to scam his fans and fire sell a bunch of digital NFTs online."
ZachXBT's Rebuttal and McGregor's Past Endeavors
Onchain investigator ZachXBT responded to McGregor's comments, drawing a parallel to McGregor's own past ventures. ZachXBT highlighted McGregor's attempt to launch his own celebrity memecoin in April, named REAL.
“There is just no way good guy McGregor used his reputation, as well as Irish culture, to scam his fans and fire sell a bunch of digital tokens online and then delete all of the posts after they were sold, leaving his fans robbed of their money?”
McGregor’s REAL token was initially offered through a sealed-bid auction, designed to mitigate price manipulation by snipers and automated bots. Despite offering staking rewards for holders, the token reportedly only achieved 39% of its intended launch goal.
According to McGregor, funds raised from the failed launch were returned to participants. The underperformance of the token was attributed to a combination of factors, including a general downturn in the cryptocurrency market and a specific bear market for memecoins.
The Shifting Landscape of Memecoins
Memecoins were a dominant trend and a top-performing sector within the crypto market in 2024. However, their rapid ascent experienced a significant downturn in 2025.
This decline followed several high-profile memecoin launches that saw their value plummet shortly after release. Some projects were even characterized as "rug pulls," including those associated with prominent figures like former US President Donald Trump and Argentinian President Javier Milei.
As of Friday, the memecoin market capitalization had fallen to $39.4 billion, marking its lowest point in 2025. According to CoinMarketCap, the sector shed up to $5 billion in a single day amidst a broader crypto market sell-off.