UFC 254: Khabib Retires- Pictures

UFC 254 ended up being a special event that fans will remember for the rest of time. Immediately after victory, Khabib Nurmagomedov is brought to tears in the middle of the Octagon. Khabib admitted in the post fight interview that his mother did not want him going to fight without his father, but Khabib had this one last performance in him, promising her that he would retire after this one.

Khabib gets the triangle choke submission victory over Justin Gaethje at UFC 254. Photo taken by me.

Khabib retires as one of the best, arguably as the number one on the pound for pound list, which he asked for immediately following the victory. He is the only fighter to have three title fight submission wins in a row. He joins Georges St. Pierre and Henry Cejudo as fighters to retire as champion. Khabib retires undefeated which is almost unheard of in MMA, unlike boxing, with a final record of 29-0. He holds victories over some of the greatest fighters including Dustin Poirier, Conor McGregor, Rafael Dos Anjos, former ACA champion Ali Bagov, and of course last night's victory over Justin Gaethje.

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Often I would joke about retired fighters are never really retired, they almost always come back. Urijah Faber, Alexander Gustafsson, Chuck Liddell, and Ben Askren are a few fighters from recent memory who all ended up coming back to fight again, even if for just one time. Even boxing's 54 year old Mike Tyson is getting set to fight 51 year old Roy Jones Jr next month, even though both retired a while ago. But in this situation for Khabib, I think this is one of those rare exceptions we have to take a fighter at their word. Yes there is fights I would still love to see Khabib in, as I'm sure many other fans are frustrated by the Tony Ferguson fight falling through five times over a five year stretch. And how awesome would it be to see Khabib in some of the big super fights, like Khabib vs GSP, or Khabib going for double champ status, or a featherweight moving up trying to take on Khabib to become a double champ. It's a good thing Khabib is available for us in the UFC game for us to partake in all these fights that are now just pure fantasy. Who knows, maybe in a few years we may see Khabib again; he is only 32 right now. But I think given the situation, this is one of those rare situations where we can roll the credits for sure, Khabib is retired for good.

Khabib ultimately retired as a result of not being able to have his father in his corner, as his father unfortunately passed away earlier this year due to complications with Covid-19. Khabib mentioned that the not having fans in the audience is not ideal and would affect him. You can just imagine the thoughts going through his head leading up to this fight, because the whole reason fans cannot be in attendance right now is because of the pandemic, which ended up taking his father from him. This led to an immediate outpouring of emotions from Khabib immedately upon victory.

Khabib releasing his emotions in the middle of the Octagon after defeating Justin Gaethje. Photo taken by me.

As I mentioned in my prefight predictions article, this was one of the biggest fights ever, and the fight was built on respect, not on trash talk and bad blood. If you need proof of how big this fight was, here is the front page of yahoo news on Sunday. This is not the sports section, this is the front page of the whole of yahoo news.

Screenshot of Yahoo news from Sunday, October 25. Screenshot taken by me.

Immediately following the fight, Justin Gaethje went over to comfort Khabib who was letting out every emotion crying in the middle of the Octagon. No trash talk or bad blood of any kind. Gaethje had nothing but respect and nice things to say about Khabib. Gaethje said in his post fight interview he stuck around for the interview just to pay respects to Khabib.

Justin Gaethje comforting Khabib after his emotional victory. Photo taken by me.

I would not be surprised to see Khabib end up working for the UFC as an ambassador of the sport kind of role. Kind of how they have Minotauro Nogueira working for the UFC in Brazil, doing things such as the weigh in events. I would not be surprised at all if Khabib becomes some sort of ambassador for the UFC in their rapidly growing Russian market. Also, given how popular Khabib is as a Muslim athlete, and how much they love him in Abu Dhabi after two fights there, that is more opportunities for the likely ambassador Khabib.

For now, Khabib deserves some time off to be with his family. Enjoy your retirement Khabib, and whatever else comes next for you. You will forever be one of the best to ever step in the Octagon.