UFC President Dana White said that the lightweight belt is still in possession of Khabib Nurmagomedov who retired from MMA after his most recent victory over Justin Gaethje.
The Russian said he’ll be walking away from the sport of MMA after UFC 254 in Abu Dhabi, which meant that the lightweight belt will have a new owner.
According to White though, that’s not the case. White himself said last week that he had a conversation with “The Eagle” and he believes sooner or later Nurmagomedov will come back.
“Well, he didn’t say that he’ll fight, but he didn’t say no,” White said at the UFC Vegas 12 post-fight press conference. “He’s considering the 30-0. His father wanted it and I think that he was super-emotional. He had the mumps, measles or whatever, broken toe, trained on a stationary bike for that fight, and then came in and fought, and he was super-emotional.
“He’s still the champ – there’s no vacant title open right now, or no interim title happening. He’s the champ and we’ll give him some time to figure out what he wants to do. … I feel pretty good about it. He said he was going to talk with his mother.”
