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Former UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov appears to be firm in his stance that he is officially retired from combat sports, and he recently turned down a big-money fight that appears to back up that claim.
Khabib’s manager Ali Abdelaziz claimed on Mike Tyson’s Hotboxin‘ podcast that the former lightweight king had turned down a whopping $100 million from Saudi Arabia to face Floyd Mayweather because he wants to keep the promise he made to his mother.
“$100 million. $100 million. You can ask Floyd. You can ask everybody,” Abdelaziz said. “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.’”
Now, Khabib is confirming that Abdelaziz’s wild figure wasn’t too far away from the truth.
“The enticement is always there,” Nurmagomedov told reporters, via RT Sport as transcribed by Bloody Elbow. “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.”
In his final UFC performance, Nurmagomedov earned a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus for his dominant second-round, technical submission victory over Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.
With the win, Khabib advanced to 29-0 in his professional career. His 29 consecutive wins is the longest winning streak in all of mixed martial arts. Khabib first won the vacant lightweight championship on April 7, 2018, at UFC 223 when he scored a dominant decision win over Al Iaquinta in Brooklyn, New York.
Nurmagomedov became the first Russian to win a UFC title.
The submission victory over Gaethje was his third title defense. Previously, Nurmagomedov choked out Poirier in his second title defense. Nurmagomedov’s first title defense was a submission victory over Conor McGregor in October 2018.
