Khabib Nurmagomedov is set for a dramatic retirement U-turn with a potential Conor McGregor rematch in the pipeline. Nurmagomedov announced his retirement from UFC last October following his win over Justin Gaethje in a unification bout at UFC 254. However, the 32-year-old Russian has not given up completely yet.
UFC president Dana White said earlier on Saturday he was going to reveal Nurmagedov’s future plans.
And as promised White delivered, stating that Nurmagomedov is currently happy with what he achieved in MMA.
However, White says he will be watching Conor McGregor’s fight against Dustin Poirier at UFC 257 next weekend with interest, as well as the co-event between Dan Hooker and Michael Chandler.
And he reckons Nurmagomedov will end up fighting whoever delivers on the night.
“Basically, the way that he feels now is he’s accomplished everything he set out to accomplish,” Dana White said.
“He thought that [Charles] Oliveira looked really good in his last fight against Tony Ferguson. So next Saturday we’ve got the McGregor – Poirier fight, and Chandler – Hooker on there.
“So his words to me were ‘I’m going to watch this fight, I would never tie up the division, I would never tie up the division, hold the belt and keep the belt from anyone else.
“These guys do something spectacular, show me something spectacular, and make me want to come back and fight’.
“I have a feeling if somebody delivers, on the main event or co-event, and like I said he thought Oliveira looked good, if these guys can do something special, Khabib will fight them.”
White still believes Nurmagomedov is the best fighter in the world and has the competitiveness to return to action.
“I think so [the competitive edge is still there],” he added.
“He’s the best in the world right now, his best performance was against Gaethje with all that stuff going on.
“He just needed some time to clear his head and if these guys do what I think they will do next weekend, it sounds like he might be interested in fighting one of them.”
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