Khabib Nurmagomedov made up his mind to walk away from the sport for good following Conor McGregor’s defeat at UFC 257.
Things could’ve been very different if McGregor had picked up a win over Poirier who he previously knocked out in 2014.
Javier Mendez claims Khabib remained in the United States Anti-Doping Agency drug testing pool for eight months before exiting the sport.
Speaking to Grosvenor Sport he said,
“After Khabib retired, they were still testing him.
‘Dana White didn’t remove Khabib from the testing pool after he retired because he still hoped Khabib would fight again, but then Khabib had enough of being tested.’
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“So, he told Dana he didn’t want to test anymore and that he’s not coming back. He was roughly tested for about eight months before he had enough.”
“You saw it when we were in Abu Dhabi. He said, ‘If someone shows me something spectacular then maybe I’ll come back.’ It was Conor v Poirier that night, but it did not get Khabib excited.
At UFC 257, McGregor was stopped with strikes for the first time in his career by Poirier which cemented Nurmagomedov’s retirement decision and ultimately ruled out any rematch between the pair.
“He said if something excited me on that card then maybe I’ll consider it. But it never happened. The UFC was pushing him, but nothing excited him, so it was a no-go.”
