Khabib Nurmagomedov has revealed he is considering retirement after his lightweight title defence against Tony Ferguson at UFC 249.
Khabib Nurmagomedov will go up against Tony Ferguson in April 2020 at UFC 249 as he looks to defend his UFC lightweight title.
The Russian has previously defended the title against Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier and remains unbeaten with an impressive record of 28-0.
‘We Don’t Have A Plan’
The 31-year-old champion is the favourite in the match-up with Ferguson. But he’s questioned whether there would be any desire to continue should he successfully defend his belt once more.
He said (via Metro): “Well, we don’t have a plan for when we’re going to finish but I do know it is not over the mountains, as they say,”
“That time is very close.”
“I don’t want to think about the future, I still have to live to April, I still have to fight, I need to win.”
“So, I don’t like to look too far ahead. Now we have an opponent, Tony Ferguson, a very serious opponent.”
“And I think it’s necessary to have this fight then we’ll sit down and think about what’s next.”
“We’ll consider whether there’s any point in fighting any more. There will always be a reason to fight, money.”
“But will we need it? We’ll think about it. I feel good now. I’m 31 and it’s a very good age to fight, and for sport.”
“I’m far from retirement age, but it’s around the corner.’”
Fifth Date
Ferguson and Nurmagomedov are long standing rivals but are yet to meet each other in the Octagon, having had fight plans fall through on four separate occasions.
The pair were first set to face eachother back in December 2015 in the finale of Ultimate Fighter, but Khabib was forced to withdraw from the fight with a rib injury.
A fight was then scheduled for the following April, but was postponed due to Ferguson having fluid in his lungs.
The pair were due to meet at UFC 209 in 2017 but again fans were left empty-handed when Khabib fell ill during his weight-cut.
And the most recent attempt to get the two in the Octagon again proved fruitless. Ferguson suffered a freak knee accident when he tripped at a pre-fight press conference for UFC 223.
End of an Era
Fans are desperate to see the two lightweights finally showdown, and it looks as though they may finally get their wish.
But with Khabib revealing his thoughts of retirement before the fight, could a shock loss to Ferguson mean the end for the undefeated champion?
(Featured image source: Instagram/ Khabib Nurmagomedov)