“…Khabib Nurmagomedov is just trying to make history and a win over Georges St-Pierre would do exactly that for him”.
Khabib Nurmagomedov won’t come out of retirement for money, but a super fight with Georges St-Pierre could do the trick.
That’s according to former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, who trains and mentors Khabib at American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) in San Jose, California.
Nurmagomedov retired undefeated, at 29-0, following his submission win over Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 but ‘The Eagle’ had always wanted to hang up the gloves on his 30th fight with a win over retired welterweight legend Georges St-Pierre.
Cormier isn’t sure the fight will ever come to fruition but believes it’s Dana White’s only shot at convincing Khabib to make a comeback.
“It would have to be Georges St-Pierre,” Cormier told MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin in a recent interview. “I believe that a big fight is what he would want in order to just prove himself. Like you said, Khabib Nurmagomedov is just trying to make history and a win over Georges St-Pierre would do exactly that for him.
“When your resume becomes so big, not many things can add value to it. If he can go and [fight] GSP and beat GSP, that adds value.”
“It’s a great fight,” Cormier said of the matchup. “I think Georges has good takedown defense. I think Georges has good striking. The highest level striking we had seen for a long time. Georges was one of those guys that almost seemed to be ahead of the times. He almost ahead of the times. Like we were learning to strike or wrestle while Georges was able to do them both at the same time. That was very rare back then and that’s why he stood out so far above everybody else.
“If he fought Khabib, especially the Khabib that you saw against Justin Gaethje where people thought that he didn’t have in the standup, he was at a clear disadvantage. The way he fought in the standup, that tells you he’s got a guy in front of him that can do just about anything.”
Although Nurmagomedov is currently retired the undefeated Dagestani is still #1 in the UFC men’s pound-for-pound rankings and the official UFC lightweight champion.
St-Pierre has tried negotiating with the UFC in the past but says the head brass didn’t want him to ruin their investment in Khabib.