As far as Khabib Nurmagomedov is concerned, Dustin Poirier’s time as an elite fighter may be over.
Poirier is coming off a third-round submission defeat to Charles Oliveira in their lightweight title fight at the UFC 269 headliner earlier this month.
Despite having a promising start which included him dropping Oliveira, “The Diamond” was ultimately overwhelmed and outworked by the champion who ended up submitting him early in the third round.
It marked Poirier’s second title defeat with many question marks about whether he will continue to fight, let alone remain in the lightweight division.
Poirier, himself, pondered about his future which leads Nurmagomedov to believe his prime might be over.
“After the fight, he said he needs to think, does he need it at all? If such thoughts came to his mind, it means he will win, but he will win and lose,” Nurmagomedov said recently (via Bloody Elbow). “He will not go to the end when it will be necessary. Sometimes, you look at the athlete and see how fast he changes.
“I say it to my close friends. While there is a time you should stay active and keep fighting. If this switch clicks once, he will never go back. I think his switch clicked.”
Khabib Nurmagomedov: Everyone’s Time Comes
Of course, as the saying goes, father time is undefeated and comes for everyone.
It’s happened to lightweight champions before and it will continue to happen in the future. It’s an endless cycle which Nurmagomedov was able to avoid as he retired on top last year.
“The time comes. There was Frankie Edgar, Benson Henderson, [Anthony] Pettis, before me,” he added. “Then Conor… No one stayed, everyone left. Now it is Charles Oliveira’s time. Charles came. Now it is the time of Islam, Beneil, Justin (Gaethje), Charles Oliveira. They will fight now, then they will leave too.
“Others will come. No one can control this and no one will be able to stop this. Time runs (out). I think everything is simple. Charles Oliveira was better; choked and left. Later, another one will come and (beat) him. He will go out, then we will talk about another one. It is such a carousel that will never be stopped.”
Even if Poirier’s time has come, he will still go down as one of the greatest lightweights of all time — even without a title to his name.
