Khabib Nurmagomedov is retired, but it sounds like he’s still in extremely high demand.
In a recent episode of Mike Tyson’s Hotboxin’, Khabib’s manager Ali Abdelaziz discussed some of the recent offers that had come in. One was from Dana White: a chance to fight Georges St-Pierre at 165 pounds. Another: a $100 million dollar offer to box Floyd Mayweather.
“$100 million. $100 million. You can ask Floyd. You can ask everybody,” Abdelaziz declared. “Khabib said, ‘No, I’m retired. I told my mother I’m retired. I’m going to keep my word to my mother. If my mother told me to fight again, maybe I will. But right now, she told me not to fight.’”
Abdelaziz is up there with Dana White for being able to warp truth around whatever reality makes his clients or himself look best, so of course there was going to be some extra confirmation done down the line. And while we’re still waiting for more details on GSP allegedly asking the UFC for a Khabib fight and Dana passing the offer on to Khabib like it’s possible, for now here’s what Nurmagomedov had to say about the Mayweather offer.
“The enticement is always there,” Nurmagomedov said during a press scrum (via RT Sport). “There were such discussions with Saudi Arabia. They wanted me to fight there. I don’t know about $100 million. That wasn’t the exact sum … but about that.”
With Dana White teasing a partnership with Floyd Mayweather, we could actually see a Khabib vs. Mayweather fight happening (despite the fact that Khabib has no particular distinction when it comes to striking). The only hang up? Saudi Arabia being involved when the UFC is clearly on team Abu Dhabi. And, of course, Khabib’s dear mother, who may or may not release Khabib from his promise not to fight again should the perfect offer roll in that will get him to 30-0.