UFC President Dana White reiterates his belief that Khabib Nurmagomedov will fight again
UFC President Dana White still believes that UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov will come back for his 30th fight. The Russian champion announced his retirement in the Octagon after his win against Justin Gaethje at UFC 254.
"God give me everything, and with my father, I love you so much, it was my last fight, when UFC called me about Justin, I talked to my mother, I promised her it would be my last fight. Today is my last fight in the UFC. It was my father, what else is there to prove? McGregor and Poirier fight in January, I choked out both of them, I'm not interested in this."
The Dagestani is 29-0, although the narrative around his career has always been that his father, the late Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov wanted him to retire at 30-0. Khabib's manager Ali Abdelaziz recently confirmed on Twitter that Khabib is still a part of the UFC testing pool.
Dana White, speaking at the post-event press conference at DWCS 36 said:
"He is still testing. Why the hell would you want to test still if you are not gonna fight? He hasn’t committed but I feel like he is gonna. I am not really pushing him. We talked about it. He just fought. Let him take some time, spend some time with his family. Spend the holidays. There’s no rush."
UFC President Dana White expects Khabib Nurmagomedov to return for 30th fight
Khabib Nurmagomedov is undoubtedly one of the biggest names in the sport of Mixed Martial Arts right now. Dana White is understandably trying his best to convince the undefeated Russian to come back for one last payday, despite his retirement plans.
Dana White revealed last month he believes that Khabib will be back for one last fight:
"Well, you know, he did not say that he will fight. But he did not say no either. He’s considering the 30-0. His father wanted it. And I think that he was super emotional, had the mumps, broken toes, trained on a stationary bike for that fight and then came in and fought."
It'll be interesting to see how long the UFC and Dana White persists with Khabib especially with high-level contenders Tony Ferguson, Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje waiting in the wings.