Khabib Nurmagomedov’s journey in the UFC was left incomplete. ‘The Eagle’ retired abruptly following a dominant win over Justin Gaethje at UFC 254. When speaking about Nurmagomedov and his career there are always ‘what ifs’ involved. In a throwback clip, his father Abdulmanap laid out the exact roadmap he wanted his son to follow after a win over Conor McGregor.
‘The Eagle’ in a video asked his father who he should fight after Conor McGregor. In the video, his father went on to call out a few names for his son and also an opponent for himself. He said,
“To be honest, I want you to destroy Conor already. Well Tony Ferguson is definitely in line after Conor. If Tony is not able to fight, then I would choose Georges St-Pierre. If he (GSP) is not available then you should fight the 170-pound champion. To be honest if they gave me six months to train, I would destroy GSP in welterweight. You must fight St-Pierre in 170-pounds. I can’t see any problem. Why should he come down to 155? You should go up to 170.”
However, things didn’t pan out as his father would have wanted. Shortly after the fight with McGregor, ‘The Eagle’ secured a win over Dustin Poirier. Unfortunately, despite multiple tries, the Tony Ferguson fight could not materialise which gave way for Dustin Poirier to secure a title shot.
Following that, ‘The Eagle’ secured a win over Justin Gaethje after which he stepped away from the sport. Despite his retirement the UFC tried on multiple occasions to sign a fight between Nurmagomedov and St-Pierre. Let’s take a look at what caused a major hindrance in the fight from being finalised.
Would Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Georges St-Pierre have cemented an unattainable legacy for the winner?
It is no secret that ‘The Eagle’ and his father both looked up to ‘GSP’. Abdulmanap on numerous occasions stated that he wanted his son to be like ‘Rush’. Unfortunately, after his passing, ‘The Eagle’ promised his mother he would never fight again. At first, both UFC fans as well as Dana White did not take this seriously.
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In order to lure him back, White offered Khabib Nurmagomedov a chance at Georges St-Pierre. It is understood that huge sums of money were thrown at both men, since ‘The Eagle’ stated in an interview it was hard to walk away from $30-$40 million. If the fight had taken place it would surely have been amongst the top five most successful PPVs in UFC history.
