Khabib Nurmagomedov wants Conor McGregor to put on a show against Dustin Poirier - but won't be there to see it.
The UFC lightweight champion is prepared to come out of retirement if either McGregor or Poirier impresses next weekend.
But he will leave Abu Dhabi after cornering his cousin Umar who takes on Sergey Morozov on Wednesday night.
Nurmagomedov will head to Las Vegas where he will hold further talks with UFC president Dana White over his future.
White said: "He leaves and goes to Vegas so I will fly home on Sunday.
"Those fights will have played out and he and I are going to hook up and go to dinner and talk again.
"One thing he did say was that he won't hold up the division; if he decides not to fight again then whoever is next is next."
Nurmagomedov had announced he was hanging up his gloves following his win over Justin Gaethje last October.
He had promised his mother he would not fight on without his father who passed away following a battle with Covid-19.
But after holding talks with White, the Dagestan native said he would consider fighting again if he felt a challenge presented itself.
And White added: "The thing with him is, when you make the decision to retire, I knew that he made the decision under unbelievable emotional stress.
His dad died and he was hurt in camp, he couldn't even train right or cut weight right ands then went out and performed the way he performed and then made the decision that night.
"He and I got together and he's like, 'I want to see if somebody really blows me away and impresses me next week'.
"He wants to see everybody; he's already said Oliveira looked awesome, that guy looked great and feels like that guy deserves a shot at the title. Let's see what these guys bring next weekend."
