UFC star Conor McGregor criticized former rival Khabib Nurmagomedov for his non-fungible token (NFT) drop on Telegram, which featured digital “papakhas” — a traditional hat worn in Nurmagomedov’s native country of Dagestan.
“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,” McGregor wrote in a now-deleted X post.
Onchain sleuth ZachXBT responded to McGregor, pointing out that McGregor attempted to launch his own celebrity memecoin in April called REAL. ZachXBT said:
“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 offered to prospective buyers in a sealed-bid auction to prevent snipers and automated trading bots from manipulating prices at launch. It featured staking rewards for holders, but it only managed to raise 39% of its target launch goal.
The funds that were raised were refunded to participants following the failed launch, according to McGregor. The failure of the token was due to multiple factors, including a broad downturn in the crypto market at the time and a memecoin bear market.
Related: NFT and memecoin markets recover after month-long crypto slump
Memecoins have fallen from grace, but will they return?
Memecoins were one of the hottest narratives and best-performing sectors in the crypto market in 2024. However, the parabolic run enjoyed by memecoins came to a screeching halt in 2025.
The decline of memecoins followed several high-profile launches that plummeted in value almost immediately after launch or were characterized as a rug pull, including projects endorsed by US President Donald Trump and Argentina’s President Javier Milei.
Memecoins fell to a market cap of $39.4 billion on Friday, reaching the lowest level on record in 2025 and shedding up to $5 billion in one day, according to CoinMarketCap.
Magazine: Memecoins: Betrayal of crypto’s ideals… or its true purpose?