Khabib Nurmagomedov has repeatedly ruled out ever making a UFC comeback.
The 29-0 Russian legend retired after choking out Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in October 2020.
Khabib Nurmagomedov was just 32 years old at the time, so people were convinced he’d return to MMA.
Five years later, ‘The Eagle’ has revealed what it would take for him to get back into fighting shape.
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Khabib Nurmagomedov details ‘hypothetical’ comeback process
Khabib Nurmagomedov recently made an appearance on the Hustle Show podcast.
The 36-year-old claimed he still gets comeback offers ‘all the time’ years after retiring from fighting.
One of the best lightweights ever has no interest in competing again. Nurmagomedov explained the amount of work he’d need to do to get back in fighting shape after five years away from MMA.
“Two to three months wouldn’t be enough,” he insisted.
“If we’re talking purely hypothetically, right? If we’re being honest, it would take at least six months.
“You can’t just say, ‘Give me six months, I’ll be ready’. No. To get into fight shape, to get back to your old form, you need a lot of time. But back when I was still fighting, before I retired, I trained regularly too, and that was enough for me.
“If I was given a fight, boom, in 100 days I’d shut everything off. Completely. No traveling, no meetings, no business contracts. I didn’t touch anything. I told them, ‘Don’t bother me.’ I trained morning and night, morning and night, morning and night, resting only on Sundays.
“If I missed even one of those two-a-day sessions, like I said earlier, I’d get a panic attack, because I knew I had to fight, and it felt out of control. Like I wasn’t ready. Like that cage door was about to shut on me.”
Will Khabib Nurmagomedov ever fight again?
In October 2024, Khabib Nurmagomedov provided a definitive update amid strong comeback rumors.
“There is no chance. None. Not even 1 percent. Minus,” he said.
Khabib added: “If you guys need champions, I’m helping my brothers to become champions… We have Islam [Makhachev] as a champion, we have Umar [Nurmagomedov] as the next contender, we have Usman [Nurmagomedov] as champion – we have a lot of champions.
“You guys are never going to miss me because in our team and our gym, we create champions – you guys are always going to have champions, don’t worry.”