UFC president Dana White remains convinced that [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag] will decide to return to the octagon, but also stated that if the current UFC lightweight champion opts not to make a comeback, he won’t hold up the division.
Speaking to Jim Rome on CBS Sports, White revealed that the pair are set for another meeting, this time in Las Vegas, following UFC 257, where the pair will discuss the lightweight division and see if there are any options have emerged that could convince the Russian star to return to the cage in 2021.
“He’s coming out to Vegas and he and I are going to go to dinner,” White revealed. “He said, ‘The one thing I won’t do (is) I will never hold up the division. So if I decide that I’m not gonna fight one of these guys, I’m retired (and) the belt can move on.'”
White said that the circumstances and pressures surrounding Nurmagomedov’s win over Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 last October led to a rushed decision to walk away from the sport.
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“I just feel like he decided to retire under a ton of pressure. His dad just died, he didn’t spend time with his family because he was in camp. He got injured and had a hard time cutting weight because of the injury. He goes in, fights the fight and I think he made an emotional decision. So we’ll see how this thing plays out this weekend.”
White clearly thinks there’s a good chance Nurmagomedov (29-0 MMA, 13-0 UFC) could walk back his decision if the right challenge presents itself and, ahead of UFC 257, the UFC boss placed the onus firmly on rival lightweights Dustin Poirier, Conor McGregor, Michael Chandler and Dan Hooker to go out on fight night and give Khabib a compelling reason to return.
“I think that he still wants to fight,” said White. “He’s looking at, ‘I beat all these guys. What’s the next challenge for me? Let’s see how this thing goes this weekend and (see) if somebody looks really good.'”
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