Dana White finally accepted Khabib Nurmagomedov’s decision to retire and leave the UFC lightweight champion belt vacant.

White, who serves as UFC’s president, told ESPN earlier this week that he recently had another meeting with Nurmagomedov and tried to convince him to fight again. The Dagestani fighter rejected the proposal and prompted the promotion to start preparing for life after.

“Khabib is retired and doesn’t wanna hold up the division,” said White. “Tonight was our final meeting, and he is retired.”

According to White, Charles Oliveira and Michael Chandler will get the chance to claim the vacant UFC lightweight title. The two fighters are expected to face on May 15th at UFC 262.

Oliveira has been with the UFC since 2010, switching between lightweight and featherweight a couple of times. The 31-year-old fighter has a 30-8 MMA record and is currently riding an eight-fight winning streak. His last fight was in December when he defeated Tony Ferguson at UFC 256 via unanimous decision.

Chandler, on the other hand, is a new face in UFC. He made his debut with the promotion at UFC 257 with a TKO win over Dan Hooker.

The 34-year-old fighter spent the majority of his MMA career with Bellator. He was the promotion’s three-time Lightweight Champion while also winning the Bellator Season Four Lightweight Tournament.

The post UFC Lightweight Title Match to Feature Charles Oliveira and Michael Chandler appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov once again had to deny the frequent and escalating rumors about his return to MMA. In a recent interview with Sport24, Nurmagomedov said that he will remain retired despite recent statements by UFC President Dana White.

White recently sparked the imagination of MMA fans by saying that Nurmagomedov might reconsider his retirement if his potential challengers, including Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier, show “something spectacular” in their next fights. Nurmagomedov and White had a chat about the topic during their meeting at UFC Fight Island 8 last week.

Nurmagomedov now decided to set the record straight and share his version of the story.

“I have achieved almost everything in this sport, and there isn’t someone I would like to fight now,” he told Sport24. “A lot of people don’t want to understand my side. I don’t see that yet. I train for myself. If we talk about all my business projects that are planned, fights are not in these plans.”

You can check out the entire interview below.

Khabib Nurmagomedov retired in October after defeating Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 and defending his UFC lightweight belt for the third time. He walked away with an impressive 29-0 record.

The post Khabib Nurmagomedov Denies UFC Comeback Rumors appeared first on SportzBonanza.

In one of the most anticipated MMA events in recent memory, Khabib Nurmagomedov defeated Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 to retain his UFC Lightweight Champion belt and extend his undefeated streak to 29 fights. This also turned out to be Nurmagomedov’s last MMA fight, as the Dagestan fighter announced his retirement in a post-match interview.

Before the fight, many MMA analysts predicted a close bout arguing that Gaethje represents one of Nurmagomedov’s toughest tests so far. However, it didn’t exactly turn out that way.

Despite not fighting for more than a year and having issues with his foot, Nurmagomedov dominated the fight and finished the job early in the second round. He managed to get Gaethje on the floor and administer a triangle choke that forced the American to tap out.

After spending several moments kneeling on the floor, with his head in his hands, emotional Nurmagomedov announced that this would be his last fight. The  32-year-old explained that he promised his mother that he would stop competing following his father’s death earlier this year.

“Today, I want to say this was my last fight,” said Nurmagomedov. “… It was my father’s dream. What else?”

“I promised her this was gonna be my last fight,” he added. “If I give my word, I have to follow this.”

Khabib Nurmagomedov walks away with a perfect 29-0 record. He is 13-0 since coming to UFC and has three consecutive UFC Lightweight Championship title defenses. This is tied for most in history with BJ Penn and Benson Henderson.

With Nurmagomedov’s retirement, the UFC Lightweight Champion belt now becomes vacated. The UFC considers several scenarios to get a new champion, with the fight between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier being the favorite.

The post Khabib Nurmagomedov Defeats Justin Gaethje at UFC 254, Retires After the Fight appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s decision to pull out of UFC 249 didn’t sit well with his challenger Tony Ferguson. According to Ferguson, Nurmagomedov’s refusal to fight him should cost him his lightweight champion title.

Nurmagomedov was set to defend his title against Ferguson on April 18th. However, the Dagestan fighter decided to skip the event due to concerns over the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, announcing the news on social media on Wednesday and saying he is in quarantine.

Ferguson, on the other hand, thinks his opponent is “scared and running” and should lose his belt.

“He should be stripped of his title,” said Ferguson in a recent interview with SportsCenter.

“He obviously knew what he could do to help save this card,” he added. “He didn’t want to take any of those chances. Everybody is taking risks trying to do it. He bailed out, man. It’s pretty hard to explain, but he bailed out, man.”

Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov never met before although their fights have been scheduled on five different occasions. Each time, the fight was canceled as one of the fighters was injured or ill.

Ferguson has 25-3 record, having lost his last fight back in 2012. He held Interim UFC Lightweight Championship title between October 2017 and April 2018.

Nurmagomedov, on the other hand, has 28-0 record. He won the vacant UFC Lightweight Championship in 2018 against Al Iaquinta and defended it successfully twice.

The post Tony Ferguson Says Khabib Nurmagomedov Should Be “Stripped of His Title” appeared first on SportzBonanza.

One of UFC’s biggest stars, Conor McGregor has recently announced his retirement from mixed martial arts saying that he wishes to focus on pursuing other ventures. But, if you ask Khabib Nurmagomedov, the man who defeated the Irishman for the UFC lightweight title back in October, McGregor’s retirement won’t last long.

Nurmagomedov spoke with reporters on Tuesday about the matter saying that McGregor “couldn’t reach a deal with the UFC, and (his retirement) is so they feel they’ve lost him and they could lose money.”

“I don’t think he’s finished,” -Nurmagomedov added. “Conor acts like a jealous wife who says “I will leave” all the time but then comes back.”

UFC’s boss Dana White also agrees that McGregor isn’t done with mixed martial arts.

“No,” – said White when asked if McGregor’s retirement is for real. “I think that there’s some things that Conor wants and I think that Conor wants to get together face to face, he and I, and we probably will in the next couple of weeks and we’ll get this thing figured out.”

You can’t blame Nurmagomedov and White for not buying Conor McGregor’s retirement since it isn’t the first one. McGregor also retired from UFC in April 2016, but ended up changing his decision just two days later.

The post Khabib Nurmagomedov Isn’t Buying Conor McGregor’s Retirement from UFC appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Dana White finally accepted Khabib Nurmagomedov’s decision to retire and leave the UFC lightweight champion belt vacant.

White, who serves as UFC’s president, told ESPN earlier this week that he recently had another meeting with Nurmagomedov and tried to convince him to fight again. The Dagestani fighter rejected the proposal and prompted the promotion to start preparing for life after.

“Khabib is retired and doesn’t wanna hold up the division,” said White. “Tonight was our final meeting, and he is retired.”

According to White, Charles Oliveira and Michael Chandler will get the chance to claim the vacant UFC lightweight title. The two fighters are expected to face on May 15th at UFC 262.

Oliveira has been with the UFC since 2010, switching between lightweight and featherweight a couple of times. The 31-year-old fighter has a 30-8 MMA record and is currently riding an eight-fight winning streak. His last fight was in December when he defeated Tony Ferguson at UFC 256 via unanimous decision.

Chandler, on the other hand, is a new face in UFC. He made his debut with the promotion at UFC 257 with a TKO win over Dan Hooker.

The 34-year-old fighter spent the majority of his MMA career with Bellator. He was the promotion’s three-time Lightweight Champion while also winning the Bellator Season Four Lightweight Tournament.

The post UFC Lightweight Title Match to Feature Charles Oliveira and Michael Chandler appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov once again had to deny the frequent and escalating rumors about his return to MMA. In a recent interview with Sport24, Nurmagomedov said that he will remain retired despite recent statements by UFC President Dana White.

White recently sparked the imagination of MMA fans by saying that Nurmagomedov might reconsider his retirement if his potential challengers, including Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier, show “something spectacular” in their next fights. Nurmagomedov and White had a chat about the topic during their meeting at UFC Fight Island 8 last week.

Nurmagomedov now decided to set the record straight and share his version of the story.

“I have achieved almost everything in this sport, and there isn’t someone I would like to fight now,” he told Sport24. “A lot of people don’t want to understand my side. I don’t see that yet. I train for myself. If we talk about all my business projects that are planned, fights are not in these plans.”

You can check out the entire interview below.

Khabib Nurmagomedov retired in October after defeating Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 and defending his UFC lightweight belt for the third time. He walked away with an impressive 29-0 record.

The post Khabib Nurmagomedov Denies UFC Comeback Rumors appeared first on SportzBonanza.

In one of the most anticipated MMA events in recent memory, Khabib Nurmagomedov defeated Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 to retain his UFC Lightweight Champion belt and extend his undefeated streak to 29 fights. This also turned out to be Nurmagomedov’s last MMA fight, as the Dagestan fighter announced his retirement in a post-match interview.

Before the fight, many MMA analysts predicted a close bout arguing that Gaethje represents one of Nurmagomedov’s toughest tests so far. However, it didn’t exactly turn out that way.

Despite not fighting for more than a year and having issues with his foot, Nurmagomedov dominated the fight and finished the job early in the second round. He managed to get Gaethje on the floor and administer a triangle choke that forced the American to tap out.

After spending several moments kneeling on the floor, with his head in his hands, emotional Nurmagomedov announced that this would be his last fight. The  32-year-old explained that he promised his mother that he would stop competing following his father’s death earlier this year.

“Today, I want to say this was my last fight,” said Nurmagomedov. “… It was my father’s dream. What else?”

“I promised her this was gonna be my last fight,” he added. “If I give my word, I have to follow this.”

Khabib Nurmagomedov walks away with a perfect 29-0 record. He is 13-0 since coming to UFC and has three consecutive UFC Lightweight Championship title defenses. This is tied for most in history with BJ Penn and Benson Henderson.

With Nurmagomedov’s retirement, the UFC Lightweight Champion belt now becomes vacated. The UFC considers several scenarios to get a new champion, with the fight between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier being the favorite.

The post Khabib Nurmagomedov Defeats Justin Gaethje at UFC 254, Retires After the Fight appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s decision to pull out of UFC 249 didn’t sit well with his challenger Tony Ferguson. According to Ferguson, Nurmagomedov’s refusal to fight him should cost him his lightweight champion title.

Nurmagomedov was set to defend his title against Ferguson on April 18th. However, the Dagestan fighter decided to skip the event due to concerns over the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, announcing the news on social media on Wednesday and saying he is in quarantine.

Ferguson, on the other hand, thinks his opponent is “scared and running” and should lose his belt.

“He should be stripped of his title,” said Ferguson in a recent interview with SportsCenter.

“He obviously knew what he could do to help save this card,” he added. “He didn’t want to take any of those chances. Everybody is taking risks trying to do it. He bailed out, man. It’s pretty hard to explain, but he bailed out, man.”

Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov never met before although their fights have been scheduled on five different occasions. Each time, the fight was canceled as one of the fighters was injured or ill.

Ferguson has 25-3 record, having lost his last fight back in 2012. He held Interim UFC Lightweight Championship title between October 2017 and April 2018.

Nurmagomedov, on the other hand, has 28-0 record. He won the vacant UFC Lightweight Championship in 2018 against Al Iaquinta and defended it successfully twice.

The post Tony Ferguson Says Khabib Nurmagomedov Should Be “Stripped of His Title” appeared first on SportzBonanza.

One of UFC’s biggest stars, Conor McGregor has recently announced his retirement from mixed martial arts saying that he wishes to focus on pursuing other ventures. But, if you ask Khabib Nurmagomedov, the man who defeated the Irishman for the UFC lightweight title back in October, McGregor’s retirement won’t last long.

Nurmagomedov spoke with reporters on Tuesday about the matter saying that McGregor “couldn’t reach a deal with the UFC, and (his retirement) is so they feel they’ve lost him and they could lose money.”

“I don’t think he’s finished,” -Nurmagomedov added. “Conor acts like a jealous wife who says “I will leave” all the time but then comes back.”

UFC’s boss Dana White also agrees that McGregor isn’t done with mixed martial arts.

“No,” – said White when asked if McGregor’s retirement is for real. “I think that there’s some things that Conor wants and I think that Conor wants to get together face to face, he and I, and we probably will in the next couple of weeks and we’ll get this thing figured out.”

You can’t blame Nurmagomedov and White for not buying Conor McGregor’s retirement since it isn’t the first one. McGregor also retired from UFC in April 2016, but ended up changing his decision just two days later.

The post Khabib Nurmagomedov Isn’t Buying Conor McGregor’s Retirement from UFC appeared first on SportzBonanza.