Nurmagomedov took on gritty German and KSW veteran David Zawada in a preliminary card bout at UFC Moscow.

And although he appeared to make a solid start to the contest, it was Zawada whose grappling acumen produced a surprise result as he locked up a triangle armbar, then released the arm and tightened the triangle choke. It left Abubakar trapped and left with no alternative but to tap out a submission.

But the nature of the tap, which saw Abubakar tap Zawada on the forehead, led to a mocking response on Twitter by McGregor, who gleefully tweeted his response to the fight's conclusion.

"Nurmagotaptap," he tweeted as he launched into a handful of reactionary tweets following the fight.

And, after calling the team "s**tebags", McGregor then went on to mock Abubakar, tweeting: "He tapped his forehead. If you can tap his forehead. You can punch his forehead. He quit. 1 quitter exposed. Abubakar Nurmagotaptap. Forever a failure."