Pound for pound number one fighter in the UFC Khabib Nurmagomedov has officially retired according to UFC President Dana White.
In a post to social media White shared a photo of the pair of them with the caption “29-0 it is. He is officially retired. It was incredible to watch you work thank you for everything and enjoy whatever is next my friend.”
29-0 it is.
He is
officially retired. It was incredible to watch you work @TeamKhabib thank you for EVERYTHING and enjoy whatever is next my friend. pic.twitter.com/QeoSP12zw2
— danawhite (@danawhite) March 19, 2021
officially retired. It was incredible to watch you work
This marks an end to White’s attempts to convince the champion to return after he retired in the octagon following his final title defence against Justin Gaethje at UFC 254.
White had met with Khabib on several occasions since his retirement, however, these conversations appear to have not been productive in convincing the fighter to make his return.
At the time it was believed he would return for the right opponent in the lightweight division, however, as that opponent was not able to reveal themselves the time for Khabib to return would appear to be at an end.
It is unclear when the UFC will move to remove the champion from the rankings as they do when a fighter has retired, however, as for now he still remains in both the Lightweight and Pound for Pound rankings.
Since becoming champion in 2018, Khabib defended his title three times against top Lightweight contenders Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier, and Justin Gaethje. Through these title defenses, the champion was perfect arguably only losing a single round to Conor McGregor.
As for the title, ESPN’s Brett Okamoto announced that the UFC has booked Michael Chandler to take on Charles Oliveira for the now vacant title at UFC 262.
Do you think this is it for Khabib, or will we see him grace the UFC octagon again in future?