Khabib Nurmagomedov isn’t giving up on a super fight with his idol Georges St-Pierre.
The bout was an oft-discussed potential booking following ‘The Eagle’s’ fourth-round submission over Conor McGregor at last October’s UFC 229. However, the UFC had other plans. Not wanting to give St-Pierre another opportunity to win a title and not defend it, they refused to give in to the UFC legend’s desires to fight Khabib in a legacy fight. St-Pierre subsequently retired from the sport this year.
But that doesn’t mean the fight has zero chance of eventually going down. Khabib’s manager Ali Abdelaziz hinted that Khabib could still fight St-Pierre this year. In a recent spot with ESPN MMA (transcribed by BJPenn.com), the UFC lightweight champ seemed to be on board with the fight. The undefeated Dagestani star speculated he and St-Pierre could sell out a stadium in Montreal or Moscow:
“Can you imagine if this happened in Montreal? [They have] 55,000 [seats] — like a stadium. Or in Moscow, [they have] 80,000 at a big stadium in Moscow. I think this fight has to happen in Canada or Russia. We can sell out a stadium, 100%.”
Why Not Khabib vs. St-Pierre?
The UFC seems to be standing in the way of the fight actually happening. Khabib believes he and “GSP” are in high enough positions that they can make it happen. Match-ups with top lightweights like Dustin Poirier, whom he’ll fight at September 7’s UFC 242, and former interim champ Tony Ferguson just don’t fit the bill, Khabib claimed:
“Georges St-Pierre has big name, I am the champion. Why not? We can do whatever we want. This is UFC, this is not NBA or soccer. This is UFC. We can do whatever we want because of the two names — me vs. Georges St-Pierre. We can do this. Dustin Poirier or Tony Ferguson, they can’t do this. Right now, this is my time. I can do this.”
The champ said it’s all about the star power present in the fight. He looked back at McGregor’s high-profile boxing match with Floyd Mayweather as proof that anything could happen in fighting:
“If a guy builds a name and becomes a very big star, they can do this, like Conor [McGregor]did with [Floyd] Mayweather. When you have a big name, when your opponent have a big name, you guys are very popular, you guys can do whatever you want.”
Not Quite Mayweather vs. McGregor
It’s debatable if Nurmagomedov vs. St-Pierre is truly on the level of Mayweather vs. McGregor in terms of mainstream exposure. In fact, it almost certainly is not. But it would still be one of the biggest UFC fights of all-time and assuredly a pay-per-view success.
With the UFC not depending on massive PPV buy numbers thanks to their baseline revenue deal with ESPN, however, the world’s MMA leader doesn’t have to extend themselves to bring a name like St-Pierre back. ‘The Eagle’ remains steadfast that the fight can still become a reality thanks to the recognition both he and “GSP” currently possess.
Would Nurmagomedov vs. GSP truly sell out a stadium in Montreal?
