Ali Abdelaziz, the only manager Khabib “The Eagle” Nurmagomedov has ever had, just announced that his star player is set to retire soon. What has left the Russian’s worldwide fans rather distraught, comes as not too big a shock, however.
The recently turned 31-year-old will soon be hanging up his UFC gloves if the announcement is to be trusted. Khabib has had a terrific record in his career of straight 28 victories with 0 losses.
The Eagle had planned to “smash a couple more guys” and was very excited to step into the ring. This was until on July 6, when his beloved father, Abdulmanap lost the battle to COVID-19 he was fighting for, and passed.
The death of his mentor and father has devastated the 31-year-old, and as can anyone expect, stripped the young man of all motivation to boot up again. The last time Khabib had stepped into the octagon was to defend his lightweight title from Dustin “Diamond” Poirier.
After a successful defense, Khabib was still hungry and looking for action. With his father by his side, the 28-0 victor from Dagestan had little to worry.
Abdulmanap, a freestyle wrestler in his time had pointed out that The Eagle is still fit to wrestle a couple more years, as he is in his best shape ever. However, all those plans came crashing down as Nurmagomedov was left mourning for his father.
The manager of Khabib, Ali has said that at this point the Russian has only 2 more fights left in him before Khabib Nurmagomedov has to retire. The next scheduled fight in his routine was against the member of his stable, Justin Gaethje.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVh4Z9zpBgI
The bout might have to be postponed beyond the original time of September so that the star player out of EaglesMMA has enough time to grieve his father. Depending on how the fight goes, there remains the question of the final opponent to face Nurmagomedov.
The company has some choices in that matter, the first choice being the Canadian, Georges St-Pierre. Rush has been the hottest name for a while now and Khabib’s family wanted this bout to happen for a long time.
The other choices are making The Eagle face either Conor ‘Notorious’ McGregor or a rematch of the fight between Dustin Poirier and Nurmagomedov.
Khabib: "Tomorrow night I'm gonna smash your boy".
He warned & fulfilled#UFC229#KHABIBvsMcGregor pic.twitter.com/TKHEtocqml
— Adel AlAwadhi (@adelawadhi) October 7, 2018
The other options are to be picked between the next big thing from Khabib’s stable, Islam Machachev, or Charles Oliviera. Either way, this will be the last fight in the career of Khabib Nurmagomedov, before the Russian retires.
Indeed, money is the last thing Khabib needs to worry about since he has earned a substantial amount from UFC given his impeccable reign. The guaranteed future Hall of Famer does not need to worry about staying back to be used as a meat shield for young talent.
At this moment, all that can be said with somewhat surety is that The Eagle looks to end on a high note with a record-setting 30-0 in his resume. The soonest that he feels ready to step back in the ring, he shall take on Justin Gaethje, but till then we can only wish the best for the grieving son.+
