UFC president Dana White seemingly hasn’t given up on persuading Khabib Nurmagomedov out of his retirement.
Despite Nurmagomedov contradicting White’s words over a return to the Octagon and recently stating that the lightweight division needed to go on, the UFC head honcho is still viewing “The Eagle” as the lightweight champion.
“No, we have not,” White told Complex when asked if the UFC have moved on from Nurmagomedov. “Khabib is the champion. Khabib’s coming to Vegas. He and I are going to go to dinner and talk and see what’s next.”
So it looks like there won’t be a new lightweight champion anytime soon.
However, with reported plans for a Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor trilogy and rumors of Michael Chandler facing either Justin Gaethje or Charles Oliveira next, it looks like the unofficial lightweight tournament will still continue.
Will any of them face Nurmagomedov in the near future? White certainly hopes so but based on Nurmagomedov’s past words, that doesn’t look to be the case.
“I did talk to Khabib,” White said following UFC 257 last month. “He said to me, ‘Dana be honest with yourself. I’m so many levels above these guys. I beat these guys.’ I don’t know. I don’t know what he’s (thinking) but it doesn’t sound very positive so we’ll see.
“And what he said was, ‘I told you guys before he won’t hold the division up.’ I mean, he already retired. He is basically retired. I’m the one who has been trying to get him to do one more.”
Nurmagomedov retired from mixed martial arts following his submission win over Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in October.
What do you think of White not giving up on Nurmagomedov?