Khabib: I was offered Georges St-Pierre or Diaz for UFC 200

Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

It appears that the UFC is shopping around for potential opponents to welcome Georges St-Pierre back into the Octagon.

According to UFC lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov, the UFC recently got in touch with him to gauge whether he would be interested in a match-up against the former welterweight champion in the main event of the landmark UFC 200 event.

“Yesterday the UFC called me with a proposal to hold the main bout of the evening against Nate Diaz, or against Georges St-Pierre,” Khabib said during a live interview on Match TV. “They hope that I will take the fight. But it is four days after the month of Ramadan, and it would be hard physically to fight five rounds. I’ll be back in September and October.”

Must Reads

Khabib Nurmagomedov wants UFC title shot

Anton Tabuena

Khabib Nurmagomedov made his case about getting a UFC title shot with a win this weekend.

Jon Jones would like to fight at UFC 200

Nick Baldwin

Jon Jones says he’s willing to fight at UFC 200 with the original headliner of Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor II scrapped.

Must Reads

Khabib Nurmagomedov wants UFC title shot
Jon Jones would like to fight at UFC 200

Ramadan in 2016 will start on Monday, the 6th of June and will continue for 30 days until Tuesday, the 5th of July, though the exact dates differ depending on the country. UFC 200 will take place on July 9th, which is just a single day following the Eid Holiday. Khabib, a devout Muslim, will unlikely be able to get himself into adequate shape to challenge the former champion of the division above him.

Share this story

About the author

Karim Zidan

Karim Zidan is a investigative reporter and feature writer focusing on the intersection of sports and politics. He has written for BloodyElbow since 2014 and has served as an associate editor since 2016. He also writes for The New York Times and The Guardian. Karim has been invited to speak about his work at numerous universities, including Princeton, and was a panelist at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival and the Oslo Freedom Forum. He also participated in the United Nations counter-terrorism conference in 2021. His reporting on Ramzan Kadyrov’s involvement in MMA, much of which was done for Bloody Elbow, has led to numerous award nominations, and was the basis of an award-winning HBO Real Sports documentary.