Dana White has tried to persuade Khabib Nurmagomedov to return to the Octagon, but the Russian has had his mind set on retirement.
According to White, Nurmagomedov was looking for a ‘spectacular’ scenario to happen at UFC 257 to convince him to get back. However, neither Dustin Poirier’s victory over his rival Conor McGregor, nor Michael Chandler’s victory over Dan Hooker, convinced him. If you missed betting on any of your favorite bouts or want to bet on the next fight, you can find it here among other top UFC previews, reviews and predictions from some of the top experts.
White said that after the fights, Nurmagomedov did not sound ‘positive’ after stating that he was many levels above the fighters since he had beaten them. This prompted White to state that he wouldn’t push the return issue further if Nurmagomedov’s decision was final.
According to White, Nurmagomedov was saying ‘all kind of things’ and when asked some of the things he said, the UFC President said that he did not get to hear most of them. However, he still insisted that he would try again to have a chat with him to see if he was interested to get back into the Octagon once more. “And if he doesn’t, I won’t push it anymore,” said White.
While stating the ‘spectacular’ scenario he wanted to see, White said that he knew the UFC lightweight champion wanted to see Conor McGregor lose. The UFC President went further to say that there had to be a ‘little piece of him (Nurmagomedov) inside’ that knows the fight between he and McGregor would be the biggest fight ever.
Talking of the fights that had happened, White said that the ‘numbers’ went off the charts with the fight had been trending. According to White, he always felt that the Nurmagomedov-McGregor fight would be the ‘No. 3 fight’ of all time in the combat sport but from the recent events, he felt the fight would be No. 1 and that it would beat McGregor-Mayweather.
White believes that a piece of Nurmagomedov would want to be part of such a big fight. With Nurmagomedov out of the picture, White is looking for the next perfect fit to fight for the vacant championship.
While it remains early for the UFC President to make a decision, Poirier and Chandler who won their fights at UFC 257, are some of the obvious choices. He said that it didn’t matter as the two had just fought and wouldn’t be fighting in the near future. He ended his take on the fight saying that we would all soon know who the next fights will be against.
The latest results at UFC 257 saw Poirier shoot up to the No. 1 position with Chandler moving up to No. 4. McGregor, who was the odds-on favorite to beat Poirier, fell to sixth.