“History Once Again”: Khabib Nurmagomedov Projected to Return to UFC to Uphold Islam Makhachev’s Legacy

The UFC is in search of a big name to headline potentially its biggest card of the year. Dana White promised fans an extremely stacked card with multiple titles on it. While one title fight has been announced so far, the main event has not been. UFC veteran turned pundit, Chael Sonnen strongly believes all the signs point towards a return to action for Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 300.

In a recent YouTube video on his channel, Sonnen suggested that Nurmagomedov might come back for a super fight. Sonnen pointed at a specific reason for his return. He said,

“Trying to find Khabib’s motivation is very hard. I will just remind you, one of the reasons he left early at 155 was to vacate the belt and create an opportunity for the one thing he cared about more than himself. Which was his top pupil, the heir apparent. And it worked out exactly as king Khabib had planned.”

Sonnen continued,

“And a tremendous motivation for Khabib is that the heir apparent would like to leave the weight class and is being met with resistance. So now big brother comes back, takes the belt that they would only allow him the opportunity to try and do, vacates it. Rinses and repeats history once again.”

The scenario drawn out by Sonnen here seems too good to be true. According to him, ‘The Eagle’ will return to action to capture the welterweight belt. He will then vacate the belt in order for Makhachev to get a shot at the vacant title. As he is not being allowed to fight for the welterweight belt at the moment.

Khabib Nurmagomedov to make the ultimate sacrifice for Islam Makhachev?

While Sonnen’s plan does seem like the stuff dreams are made of, in reality, this scenario will most definitely not take place. The UFC is currently working on a fight between Belal Muhammad and Leon Edwards. It is highly unlikely that ‘The Eagle’ will want to step in on relatively short notice to take on Edwards after being away from the sport for three years. Furthermore, that would only hold up the welterweight division even more, which has no shortage of contenders to begin with.

 

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The most likely scenario here is that if Edwards and Makhachev both win their respective fights, a super fight could be made later down the year. Thus, a return for Nurmagomedov at UFC 300 is next to impossible. However, there is no certainty of what might happen down the line.