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“I feel I know Khabib’s game in and out and we’re gonna come up with something real nice.”
It’s the fantasy MMA matchup everyone wants to see: Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Georges St-Pierre.
Dana White had previously shot down any talk of the matchup but the UFC president seems to be warming up to the idea, telling ESPN’s Brett Okamoto last week that he ‘would do anything Khabib wanted to do’ for his final fight in the UFC.
St-Pierre — for his part — is also interested in the bout, telling ESPN’s Ariel Helwani that he is open to a comeback fight against Nurmagomedov.
St-Pierre’s training partner Kevin Lee said he is excited about the prospect of helping his teammate prepare for the biggest fight of his career.
“I’ll be healthy by then, I’ll be ready to come back and I’ll be fighting and training,” Lee told Helen Yee in a recent interview (h/t Abhinav Kini of The Body Lock MMA). “I’m doing my camp up at Tristar where Georges is. So when he gets ready for that fight, I’m gonna be in his corner. I’ll be part of his training camp to help him get ready for that.
“I feel I know Khabib’s game in and out and we’re gonna come up with something real nice. Khabib’s good, I’ll give it to him, but he ain’t there, he ain’t like that.”
Lee went on to state that St-Pierre would run straight through the undefeated Dagestani.
“Yeah, for sure, for sure. I don’t think he [Nurmagomedov] stands a chance.”
Before there’s any further talk of the matchup, however, Khabib must first get past interim lightweight titleholder Justin Gaethje. Reigning champ Nurmagomedov will take on Gaethje in a lightweight title unification bout in the UFC 254 main event on Oct. 24 at a TBD location.