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Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov continues to stay true to his word.
According to his manager Ali Abdelaziz, Nurmagomedov (29-0) remains retired, despite some very lucrative offers that have come his way recently.
In a recent episode of “Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson,” Abdelaziz claimed Nurmagomedov, since his October retirement, received a nine-figure offer to fight boxing great Floyd Mayweather. Nurmagomedov declined.
Additionally, Abdelaziz added UFC president Dana White reached out as recently as this past week. According to Abdelaziz, White relayed that former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre is eager to fight Nurmagomedov, despite both men’s retirement statuses.
“Two weeks ago, (or) 10 days ago, Dana White called me,” Abdelaziz said. “He said, ‘Georges St-Pierre, he said he’ll fight Khabib in a non-title fight at 165 pounds.’ In a way, we’ve been waiting for Georges. I like Georges. He’s my friend. I like Georges. … We’ve been waiting for Georges for four or five years. ‘I’m coming. I’m not coming.’ … Now, (St-Pierre) said, ‘Hey, Khabib is retired. I’m retired. What about coming back and fighting Khabib now?”
“But you know, Khabib got offered $100 million after he was retired to fight Floyd Mayweather,” Abdelaziz continued. “$100 million. $100 million. You can ask Floyd. You can ask everybody. Khabib said, ‘No, I’m retired. I told my mother I’m retired. I’m going to keep my word to my mother. If my mother told me to fight again, maybe I will. But right now, she told me not to fight.’”
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Taking his client at his word, Abdelaziz indicated that if St-Pierre is looking to come back against an all-time great, he should fight current UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman (19-1 MMA, 14-0 UFC), whom he also manages.
“Georges St-Pierre wanted to come back,” Abdelaziz said. “He wanted someone untouchable, right? That’s true. The pound-for-pound king right now? ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ Kamaru Usman. That man never lost a fight in the UFC. (He) never got touched in the UFC. He’s smashed everybody, right? In a way, if he wants to come back and fight somebody invincible, hey, they’re the same weight. Come back. Georges St-Pierre can come back and fight Kamaru Usman. I’ll be more than happy. The UFC will be more than happy. It will be such a huge fight.”
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Nurmagomedov and St-Pierre (26-2) expressed interest in fighting one another in the past. Ahead of his 29-0 record-clinching victory over Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 last October, Nurmagomedov name-dropped St-Pierre as an ideal opponent for his 30th (and then-thought to be final) fight.
Following Nurmagomedov’s retirement, St-Pierre deflected questioning as to whether or not he would have accepted the fight had it been offered and had Nurmagomedov not announced his retirement inside the cage.
St-Pierre, 40, has not competed since a one-off comeback fight against Michael Bisping at UFC 217 in November 2017. The fight was St-Pierre’s first in four years.