Over the last four months since announcing his retirement, Khabib Nurmagomedov has made one thing clear: a UFC return is out of the question. And after repeated tries to lure “The Eagle” back in, UFC president Dana White is finally letting up in his efforts.
But according to Khabib’s close teammate Daniel Cormier, White shouldn’t pump the brakes on the negotiation attempts just yet.
“I wouldn’t stop. I’d go ten meetings,” Cormier told Ariel Helwani in the recent episode of their DC & Helwani weekly show. “Every time (Khabib) would be willing to take a meeting, I’d keep trying to convince him.”
Cormier could know something we don’t. But given how Khabib fought through several injuries along with a battle with mumps during his UFC 254 training camp, “DC” sees why the UFC continued to press Khabib to make a comeback.
“What Khabib did was even more impressive because of all the obstacles he had to get through during this training camp,” Cormier explained. “It was not a very good training camp Khabib. And for him to dominate the way that he did just shows how truly special and elite he is, and how far he has separated himself from the rest of the lightweights in the world.
“He had a lot of injuries, wasn’t able to spar. It was a lot of different aspects to the camp that didn’t go well for Khabib. And then look at what he did. Just dominated a very tough Justin Gaethje.
“That’s why he’s the man. That’s why he is the absolute man, and that is why Dana White continues to ask him to come back to fighting.”
Khabib has yes to officially vacate the throne, but he already gave his blessing to former challenger Dustin Poirier to go after the undisputed lightweight title.
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