If the best offer UFC president Dana White can make to Khabib Nurmagomedov is a fight against the winner of the Conor McGregor-Dustin Poirier rematch, consider “The Eagle” not interested.
Nurmagomedov made that much clear during a Wednesday news conference in Moscow.
When asked by Russian journalist Igor Lazorin about returning to the UFC despite announcing his retirement in late October, Nurmagomedov admitted it “will be hard for (White) to surprise me with any opponent.”
That’s when it was posed to Nurmagomedov that he could defend his lightweight championship against the McGregor-Poirier winner, but he was less than thrilled about it.
“What for? I choked both,” Nurmagomedov said. “Why I should do this?”
It’s a stance that Nurmagomedov has gone back and forth on. Prior to his successful title defense against Justin Gathje at UFC 254, Nurmagomedov backtracked on previous statements that he wouldn’t rematch McGregor by saying he would be willing to if McGregor defeated Poirier. Then Nurmagomedov said he’d only fight the winner if the bout took place at 155 pounds, which it is Jan. 23 at UFC 257.
Just days later, though, Nurmagomedov reversed course and told MMA Junkie’s Farah Hannoun that he wasn’t interested in a rematch against either man since he holds decisive submission wins over both – McGregor in October 2018 at UFC 229 and Poirier in September 2019 at UFC 242.
That appears not to have changed, and Nurmagomedov said money isn’t a factor.
“There is no sports interest there,” Nurmagomedov said. “I choked both of them, both were champions, both surrendered to me. As our proverb says: A horse doesn’t run until the donkey wins. Donkeys don`t even take part in competitions where horses run. I have no interest in fighting against these opponents. Imagine UFC offered you $100 million. This is already a problem. But there is no sports interest there.”
Nurmagomedov announced his retirement in an emotional post-fight interview after defeating Gaethje on Oct. 24. Nurmagomedov said he based his decision on a promise to his mother not to fight anymore without his father and coach, Abdulmanap, who died over the summer.
White, though, has continued to express confidence that Nurmagomedov will return to try and move his overall record to 30-0 as his father wished. Other than some cryptic posts on social media, Nurmagomedov continues to say otherwise publicly.
“There are many questions about whether I will be back to competing or not,” Nurmagomedov said. “However, I don’t have such plans.”
