After steamrolling Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 last week, Khabib Nurmagomedov laid his gloves down in the Octagon and said he was retiring, citing the tragic loss of his father as his reason for walking away.
But just over a week removed from that emotional evening, it appears the Russian may be about to perform a dramatic U-turn and compete once more to take his incredible record to 30-0. That’s according to UFC President Dana White who, having spoken to Nurmagomedov since the retirement was announced, is feeling pretty optimistic about our chances of seeing the current lightweight champion compete at least one more time.
“I’ll tell you this and I haven’t told anybody yet, but Khabib and I have been talking,” White told the Zach Gelb show. “He was completely emotional that night when he got through that fight. I have a feeling he might go for 30-0. I think that he’s not going to retire. His dad wanted him to get to 30-0, and I think he wants to honour his dad’s wish,” he added.
Following the loss of his father who was also his mentor and coach, Khabib said he spoke to his mum and promised her he would walk away from the sport after his appearance at UFC 254. But if White’s comments are anything to go by the decision isn’t set in stone just yet.
After making the comments, White was asked to expand as he was pressed on who would fight for the lightweight belt next. The UFC honcho was emphatic in his response: “He’s still the champ – there’s no vacant title open right now, or no interim title happening. He’s the champ and we’ll give him some time to figure out what he wants to do. I do feel pretty good about it. He said he was going to talk to his mother.”
Whether or not Nurmagomedov decides to return for one last fight remains to be seen, but it appears the prospect of the Dagestani competing in the UFC cage again are much greater than they appeared to be just last week.