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Dana White felt lucky to see Khabib Nurmagomedov’s final fight and will now give the retiring champion time to “emotionally heal” before discussing the future.
Khabib beat Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 to unify the lightweight division, but later revealed that he had entered the Octagon for the last time.
The Russian, who lost his father and coach Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov to complications from the coronavirus, said he had promised his mother that this would be his last fight.
UFC President White’s post-event press conference raised questions about whether he believed Khabib’s claims.
However, White did not seek to pressure the fighter and also revealed that “one of the toughest human beings on the planet” had suffered a secret wound.
“From what this guy has been through, we are all lucky to see him fight tonight,” White said.
“I’m hearing rumors of other things that I didn’t hear about. Apparently he was in the hospital. He broke his foot three weeks ago.
“He has two broken toes and a bone in his foot that was broken, something like that, that’s what his corner was telling me.
“He is one of the toughest human beings on the planet.
“He’s the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Seriously, you have to start putting him in GOAT status with whoever you think is GOAT.
“When guys want to fight, they want to fight. When guys don’t want to fight, they don’t want to fight.
“Let him take time off, let him heal, not physically but emotionally recover from what is going on after losing his father.
“Like I said, we are all lucky to see him tonight.”
White was impressed by Khabib’s performance, particularly after he struggled to gain weight and appeared to be overwhelmed with excitement before, during and after the event.
“He almost smelled like a surprise tonight, the way he reacted at the weigh-in, the way he acted when he came out tonight,” White said.
“He didn’t look like himself, he was breathing hard and breathing deeply, but wow.”
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