Khabib Nurmagomedov cemented his legacy as one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time with a dominant submission victory over Justin Gaethje at UFC 254, and then announced in his post-fight interview that he will not fight again.
Nurmagomedov unified the UFC Lightweight Championship with his win, and improved his record to a still-perfect 29-0 with a third successful title defense. The fight was Nurmagomedov’s first after losing his father in July, and Numagomedov revealed that he promised his mother he would not fight again, and that he will not return to the octagon to fight without his father.
In Dana White’s press conference following UFC 254, the UFC president revealed that Nurmagomedov’s stellar performance came just weeks after he broke bones in his foot. White said that Nurmagomedov suffered the injury three weeks ago, but never told anyone about it.
"We're lucky we got to see him fight tonight."
"He is one of the toughest human beings on the planet." @DanaWhite pays tribute to @TeamKhabib after he bows out at #UFC254. pic.twitter.com/ika2TaD7VK
— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) October 24, 2020
“Apparently he was in the hospital, he broke his foot. Three weeks ago. So he has two broken toes and a bone in his foot that’s broken, or something like that. That’s what his corner was telling me. [He] never told anybody.”
Yahoo’s Kevin Iole reports that the foot injury wasn’t even the first serious setback Nurmagomedov weathered. Before the broken foot, Nurmagomedov had the mumps and missed weeks of his training camp.
Before he broke a toe in his foot, Khabib had mumps. Coach Javier Mendez just told me that was the worst camp they had and he was out two weeks cuz of the mumps. Got it in mid-September. #UFC254
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) October 24, 2020
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