Will Khabib Nurmagomedov return to the UFC octagon? The lightweight king announced retirement after his monumental victory at UFC 254 against Justin Gaethje. Fans would go on to think that it was an end of an era as one of the greatest combat athletes called it quits.
However, Dana White believes that Khabib would make his UFC return and try to achieve his father’s dream. Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov wanted Khabib to retire undefeated with a record of 30-0. But, the Russian wrecking machine has 29 victories before he announced retirement. And it seems that Khabib is not coming back to achieve his 30th win in MMA.
During a meeting with the leader of Dagestan, Khabib Nurmagomedvo explained:
“This fight was like no other. The emotions in this fight were completely different. Everything was completely different without my father. I was offered the fight right after everything happened. I had the decision to accept it or turn it down, nobody knew about this, or retire, or I could come back, fight, and then retire. Now I tell the people close to me that aren’t happy with me retiring that even if I fought 10 more times, I’d still have to face that decision. This decision could come up when I’m 32, 34, 35. It’s a hard decision because I’ve been fighting all my life. I’ve been on the mats for as long as I remember. It’s difficult to leave and do something else. People can’t understand it, but what can you do?”
Is Khabib Nurmagomedov the GOAT?
Khabib Nurmagomedov is undoubtedly one of the greatest to ever grace the octagon. However, calling him the GOAT will be a far fetched argument. Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, and Demetrious Johnson have accomplished more than the lightweight champion if we consider the level of competition they have fought and the number of title defenses in their resume.
However, no one in UFC has been as dominant as Khabib Nurmagomedov. He came to the closest to have the perfect MMA career. He lost only two rounds in his entire career and those were very close too. No fighter was able to exploit any weakness of Khabib because he does not have any. Whether Khabib will change his mind in the future to have a legacy fight with GSP is something that will keep the fans excited for a long time.
