Last Saturday, Khabib Nurmagomedov retired as arguably the greatest UFC fighter of all time. At UFC 254 Nurmagomedov was able to retain his UFC World Lightweight title against his opponent, Interim Lightweight Champion Justin Gaethje by a triangle choke submission early in the second round. Nurmagomedov was able to take Gathje down very easily in the second round and got right into the top mount position. From there he skilfully turned that into a triangle choke and put gathje to sleep forcing the official to stop the fight, as Nurmagomedov improved to an undefeated record of 29-0.
Following his victory, Khabib dedicated the fight to his father who recently passed away over the summer and announced that it was his last fight. Prior to the fight, Khabib spoke with his mother and promised her that it was going to be his last fight because she only wants her son to fight with his father in his corner.
There is no doubt that Khabib will not be returning to the UFC without his father here. Following his retirement, this leaves the Lightweight division wide open for a new champion. With quite the stacked weight class, there are many names that could be chosen to potentially fight for the title. Superstars like Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier, Tony Ferguson, & Justin Gaethje.
Christian,
I think that Khabib may actually come back. For one thing, it seems like if you put enough money in front of these fighters, they come back. Another reason is, after the fight, Dana White said that he thinks once Khabib has time away and clears his mind, he will go for his 30th win. Apparently, Khabib always wanted 30 wins, and I guess his dad wanted the same.