Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje, UFC 254 Face-Off Credit: Gabriel Gonzalez/Cageside Press
Dana White: Maybe Khabib Nurmagomedov isn’t retired
According to UFC President Dana White, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s retirement following his emotional lightweight title victory at UFC 254 might be short lived. Huh?
“I’ll tell you this and I haven’t told anybody this yet, but Khabib and I have been talking,” White revealed when speaking to the Zach Gelb Show. “He was completely emotional that night when he got through that fight. I have a feeling that he might go for 30-0.” – via MMA Fighting
This isn’t exactly surprising. Khabib was emotionally spent after defeating Justin Gaethje, and while his retirement right now would make sense and his post-fight speech was believable, an eventual return would also make a lot of sense.
Like most fighters after a fight, Khabib shouldn’t be held completely accountable for the things he said in the cage. What he should be held accountable for, though, are his ridiclous comments directed at French President Emmanuel Macron.
“May God mutilate the face of this brute and that of all his followers who offend the feelings of over 1.5 billion Muslims under the slogan of free speech,” the 32-year-old world lightweight champion wrote in an Instagram post after announcing his retirement earlier this week. – via Yahoo! Sports
It took basically no time for Khabib to go from a sympathetic figure as a retiring legend, to another fighter inciting violence against a political figure. Huh.
