Prior to the UFC’s debut on ABC, the revelation of Khabib
Nurmagomedov’s next move was billed as something akin to LeBron
James’ infamous “Decision.” In reality, it wasn’t much of a
decision at all.
UFC president Dana White revealed the gist of his meeting with
Nurmagomedov during Saturday’s broadcast, but as it turns out, the
lightweight champion didn’t reveal anything definitive regarding a
potential comeback.
At best, Nurmagomeodv is taking a wait-and-see approach.
“Like I said, I thought that in his last fight his father had
passed away, he’d been through a lot,” White said. “He’d been away
from his family during that time, got injured while he was training
and I thought that he made an emotional decision. There was no
reason to make a hasty decision like that then when he didn’t have
to.
“I talked to him, I told him to take his time. We would get
together later on. Last night, we did. And basically the way that
he feels right now is, he’s accomplished everything he set out to
accomplish.”
“The Eagle” announced his retirement following a victory over
Justin
Gaethje at UFC 254 this past October. In recent interviews,
White expressed confidence that he would be able to convince
Nurmagomedov to return in pursuit of a 30-0 career mark. According
to White, Nurmagomedov left the door only slightly ajar for a
comeback by expressing interest in the performances of a few top
lightweights.
“He thought that [Charles] Oliveira looked really good in his last
fight against Tony
Ferguson. Next Saturday we’ve got the McGregor-Poirier fight
and Chandler-Hooker on there.
“His words to me were: I’m gonna watch this fight [at UFC 257]. He
said, I would never tie up the division … Show me something
spectacular and make me want to come back and fight. I have the
feeling that if somebody delivers — it could be on the co-main
event or the main event — two fights coming up, Oliveira looked
great… If these guys can do something special, Khabib will fight
them.”
UFC 257 takes place next Saturday and is headlined by a rematch
between Conor
McGregor and Dustin
Poirier. In the co-main event, former Bellator lightweight
champion Michael
Chandler will make his promotional debut against Dan Hooker.
White is holding out hope that at least one of those four men will
leave a lasting impression on Nurmagomedov.
“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,” White said. “If these guys do what I think
they’re gonna do next weekend, it sounds like he might be
interested in fighting one of them.”