Khabib is still interested in that super-fight with Georges St-Pierre.
It seems like Khabib Nurmagomedov isn’t ready to let go of his goal to fight Georges St-Pierre just yet. The lightweight champion is expected to take on Dustin Poirier in Abu Dhabi at UFC 242 this September, and according to his manager, Khabib plans to keep busy afterwards.
“He gave me very specific instructions,” Ali Abdelaziz told ESPN. “He said he wants to fight Sept. 7 and again in December. And if [former welterweight champion] Georges St-Pierre can figure things out with the UFC by April, that’s the deal. He would like that fight in April.
“The lightweight division has a lot of contenders, and we need to keep the division going,” Abdelaziz said. “Khabib has done this before. He fought [Edson Barboza], Al [Iaquinta] and Conor [McGregor] in less than one year [from December 2017 to October 2018]. If it can be Georges in April, he would love that fight. If not, it can be any contender.”
Khabib and St-Pierre have both gone public expressing interest in fighting each other in the past, but it just didn’t materialize. Shortly after negotiations with the UFC stalled, the former two-division UFC champ decided to move on from fighting and officially retired last February.
Crazier things have happened in MMA, but much like how the UFC didn’t cater to Lesnar’s requests during negotiations, it is also unlikely that the UFC would change their mind on St-Pierre’s return bout — especially given their new PPV structure.