Retiring from UFC has turned out to be the toughest decision Khabib Nurmagomedov has ever taken in his life. Khabib Nurmagomedov decided to end his career as a UFC fighter in order to fulfill his promise to his mother.
The lightweight title holder announced his decision to retire after defeating Justin Gaethje in the UFC 254 duel, 25 October 2020. Khabib Nurmagomedov put in a deadly finish to beat Justin Gaethje in the second round. With this victory, Nurmagomedov is still in power by holding the status of the defending lightweight division champion.
Although become a champion, he decided to end his career as a fighter at the UFC. After the duel, Khabib Nurmagomedov said his mother’s request not to fight again became the reason for him to retire. For information, the duel against Gaethje is also Nurmagomedov’s first match without his father and coach, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, who died last July.
Without his father’s presence, Nurmagomedov then decided to resign from the UFC even though there was a dilemma in him. “After (father’s death), they offered me a fight,” said Nurmagomedov. “I have to make a decision: finish my career or come back, fight and then leave,” the Russian fighter added.
Retirement is not easy for Nurmagomedov. This is because Khabib Nurmagomedov’s closest people admit to being disappointed with the decision made by the fighter. “Some people close to me admit they are not happy that I ended my career,” he said. “But I said to them, ‘Even if I fight another 10 years, there will come a time when I have to go’. Decisions like that will always come, at 32 years old, at 34, or 35 years old. The decision was tough for me, because I have been doing this my whole life. As long as I live and I remember, leaving everything behind and reformatting is a difficult task,” added Khabib.
Even though he had expressed the UFC 254 match against Justin Gaethje as his last party in the professional MMA world, Khabib Nurmagomedov is said to be still open for one last match. This was expressed by UFC President Dana White who said that Khabib Nurmagomedov did not rule out the possibility of looking for one more victory in order to fulfill his unbeaten record at the UFC to be 30-0.
