Khabib Nurmagomedov’s recent comments lend credence to Dana White’s belief that the door is not as shut on a comeback as it has seemed in the past.
Since last October, there has been a saga surrounding whether UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov would lift his retirement for one more fight. Khabib has made it clear that he wants the lightweight division to move on and that his mind is made up. Dana White has insisted that under the right circumstances, if the right opponent emerged from the pack, Khabib would be willing to fight them in a pursuit for 30-0.
The most frequent name thrown around for a Khabib return has been Georges St-Pierre. One of the barriers preventing this fight from happening is that GSP has shown a heavy reluctance to fighting at lightweight, and in a recent media scrum, Khabib has closed the door completely on fighting at GSP’s weight class of 170.
“I won’t fight at 170. That’s for sure,” Khabib said in the scrum as transcribed by RT Sport. “It’s not my natural weight. When I’m in shape, my weight is around 180. To cut down to 177 and weigh in around 176 on fight night against the best fighter of the weight class in the history of the sport?
“You know, it reminds me of my childhood. When you’re fighting a karate guy, taking him down and he is like, ‘Hey, let’s stand up and fight like men!’ ‘But we started the fight on the feet, you know what I’m talking about?’”
Khabib Leaves The Door Open For Return
In Khabib’s rejection of the idea of fighting St-Pierre at welterweight, he may have inadvertently showed his hand by revealing that the door is not completely shut on a return after all, just as Dana White has suggested. All it will apparently take is the right opponent separating from the pack in his own division.
“I am a lightweight champion,” Khabib said. “And if there’s an interesting option for me, I’d like it to materialize at lightweight. So I’m not fighting St-Pierre at 177. No.”
What do you think the chances are that we see Khabib Nurmagomedov compete in the UFC again?
