UFC Legend Khabib Retires

Khabib Nurmagomedov announced his retirement after his 29th bout in his octagon career against Justin Gaethje on Sunday October 25th. With a record of 29-0 Khabib would go down in history as one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world.

During the ongoing pandemic, Nurmagomedov’s father and coach, Abdulmanap, died in July, due to the Corona Virus which made a huge impact to his family, as his father was the one who had Khabib started in martial arts and with his lifelong mentor gone, is what lead to this unexpected retirement. Khabib’s mother had many talks with Khabib after the passing of his father, and Khabib decided to retire after talking to his mother. “She don’t (want me) to go fight without father, but I promised her it’s going to be my last fight,” he said in a post-match interview. “And if I give my word, I have to follow this.”

Khabib is only 32 years old, and many experts and analyst say that Khabib is in his prime, and could still fight for 5-7 years. When asked about this, Nurmagomedov said “‘Of course, I could possibly fight until I’m 40 – or even 45, like Fedor,’ the Eagle said. ‘But there must be a purpose to it, a goal. ‘My goal was to reach the summit. I did it – so I don’t see any competitive interest to stay in the game. Who else is there to fight for me?” This answer made the world clear that he was dead set on retiring but Khabib’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, dumbfounded millions with a confusing tweet of him responding to Khabib’s retirement tweet as “fake news.” Adding even more to the confusion, the president of the UFC Dana White initially believed Khabib was finished, then just a few days later after an apparent conversation with him, he changed his mind. Since that happened, White has been consistent in saying that Khabib is not finished fighting and had arranged more private meeting with Nurmagomedov.

So will he come out of his short lived retirement? Would Khabib put the gloves on once more? No one knows for sure but whether Khabib returns or not, fans and I personally hope that he would be comfortable with his decision. For more in depth information please go to CNN and ESPN sports.