As Dana White recently claimed, Khabib Nurmagomedov was supposedly waiting on the results of the top two lightweight fights at UFC 257 before he gives a definite answer on his return. But after the dust had cleared, the UFC president still didn’t have the response he was looking for.
Both fights did end spectacularly. Michael Chandler made a strong statement for his UFC debut by knocking out Dan Hooker, while Dustin Poirier avenged his 2014 loss with a KO win of his own against Conor McGregor.
But that still wasn’t impressive enough for the undefeated Eagle to change his mind.
Dana on what Khabib told him after the fight.
Also says if Khabib doesn’t come back will likely be Poirier/Chandler for the title.#UFC257 #UFC pic.twitter.com/k8242PzVx5— Jed I. Goodman (@jedigoodman) January 24, 2021
“He said to me, ‘Dana, be honest with yourself. I’m on so many levels above these guys, I beat these guys,’” White told reporters during the post-fight media scrum. “I don’t know what he’s… but it doesn’t sound very positive.
“And what he said was I told you guys before, he won’t hold the division up. He already retired. He’s basically retired and I’m that one that’s been trying to get him to do one more.”
Khabib has reiterated his retirement multiple times since he announced it in October. In his most recent statement, the 32-year-old Dagestani said that fighting isn’t part of his immediate future plans.
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