Back 3 months ago, in Abu Dhabi, in September 2020 at UFC 242, the defending champion of Lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov stated that he would hang gloves after defeating Dustin Poirier by strangling after Ref-naked Choke. With Khabib, the journey on the MMA ring will not be complete without the companion of the father, coach Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov. He died in the summer of 2020 due to complications of Covid-19.
Since then, although Khabib Nurmagomedov has expressed that he has been “motivated” to continue playing the top MMA, UFC President Dana White still tries hard to pull Khabib back to the ring. After many calls, finally, Khabib agreed that if anyone of the top 4 candidates Lightweight UFC at the moment, Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier, Michael Chandler, and Dan Hooker had a peak performance at UFC 257, Khabib would think about returning.
The matches at UFC 257 under the eyes of fans can be said to be too successful. Dustin Poirier defeated Conor McGregor with TKO 2nd half. Michael Chandler lowered Dan Hooker in the first half. However, it was clear that what the boxers at UFC 257 did not enough to persuade to Khabib Nurmagomedov returned to the fighting floor.
Appearing at UFC 257 as the audience directly witnessed the above matches, Khabib said that no one could show a “outstanding” match as he expected. Therefore, Khabib is no longer interested and motivated to compete with the current boxers of the Lightweight UFC class.
“Khabib told me,” Dana, please be honest with yourself. My level is much higher than these people. I have defeated them, “” Dana White shared in a press conference after the UFC 257 match.
“It sounds not very positive. I have to wait and see how. Anyway, as you know, Khabib hangs gloves. Only I'm trying to take him back to the ring.”