On Saturday, during the UFC on ABC 1 broadcast, UFC President Dana White made an announcement regarding Khabib Nurmagomedov. It wasn’t the announcement many had predicted.
No Decision from Khabib Nurmagomedov
White spoke with commentator Jon Anik about his meeting with the UFC lightweight champion, which happened on Friday evening. And to put it bluntly, there was ultimately no decision made just yet.
The Dagestan fighter made it clear to White that he thought Charles Oliveira looked great in his fight against Tony Ferguson and that if anyone from the UFC 257 main or co-main event intrigued him, then he could potentially return.
The #UFC257 stakes have been raised! 👀@DanaWhite gives us an update on @TeamKhabib's fighting status. pic.twitter.com/FFC2GNeIUY
— UFC (@ufc) January 16, 2021
Potential return fights for Khabib Nurmagomedov…
So the names currently at hand are Oliveira, Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier, Dan Hooker, and Michael Chandler.
“He’s accomplished everything he set out to accomplish,” White said he was told by Nurmagomedov. “He thought that Oliveira looked really good in his fight against Tony Ferguson. Next Saturday, we have the McGregor-Poirier fight and Chandler and Hooker on there.
“His words to me were, ‘I’m gonna watch this fight.’ He said, ‘I would never tie up the division, hold the belt, keep the belt away from anybody else. These guys do something spectacular, show me something spectacular, and make me want to come back and fight.’ So I have a feeling that if somebody delivers, it could be on the co-main event or the main event, and like I said he thought Oliveira looked good. Two fights coming up, if these guys can do something special, Khabib will fight them.”
The UFC 257 goes down on Saturday, February 23, and will be headlined by a rematch between Poirier and McGregor, with Hooker taking on the debuting Chandler.
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