Not even Dana White is sure what Khabib’s plans are, but we should know once the UFC’s next run on ‘Fight Island’ goes down in early 2021.
Khabib Nurmagomedov made headlines around the world when he sent out a short and sweet message to UFC president Dana White: “See you soon.”
Most saw it as confirmation that there was indeed a chance Khabib was considering a return to fighting after he emotionally retired following his 29th win in a row over Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in September. The UFC lightweight champion got maybe one or two days of peace before people started discounting that decision, which he claims was the result of a promise he made to his mother. First to do that was Dana White, who thinks Khabib will go for 30-0.
“We’re going to meet in Abu Dhabi,” White revealed when asked about Khabib’s somewhat mysterious social media message.
“Sometime soon. I’ll let you know when you need to know. I do [think he’ll come back for 30-0]. He hasn’t said that to me, but I do.”
This is in direct contradiction to the last quote we’ve seen from Khabib on the subject.
“You can fight until you’re 40 but there should be a goal,” Nurmagomedov told Russian media in mid-November. “I had a goal to reach the summit and I got there. Further, I have no competitive interest. Next year I will graduate. I’d like to [build on] my thesis, do a masters course, dedicate more time to studying. I’ve bought sheep, I tend to my farm. I’d like to develop in this field a little. I have the bull calves out to feed, I have cows.”
It’s worth noting however that Khabib’s manager Ali Abdelaziz stated that story was ‘fake news’ … so who really knows what is going on at this moment.
Barring a quick jetset by Dana White out to Abu Dhabi specifically to deal with this, the UFC won’t be back to Fight Island until the first week of January. So expect to hear more about this in early 2021.