Undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov put on a dominant performance earlier today when he sleeps Justin Gaethje with second-round submission (triangle choke) and unified UFC lightweight championship in the main headliner of UFC 254 from inside Flash Forum on “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
Khabib dominated Gaethje with his grappling before getting away with triangle choke submission at 1:34 in the second round. It was his first fight following the tragic death of his father earlier this year.
Shortly after a win, Khabib put his gloves on the floor and announces his retirement from mixed martial arts.
Khabib’s performance drew a lot of attention from MMA world as many pros and analysts praised him. Now UFC head honcho Dana White got even more impressed by Khabib as he broke his foot three weeks ago.
“Listen, what this guy (Khabib Nurmagomedov) has been through, we are all lucky that we got to see him fight tonight. Dana White said. And I am hearing rumors of other things that I didn’t know about that you guys will hear about when he comes out later. Apparently (Khabib Nurmagomedov) was just in the hospital. He broke his foot. Yea that happened three weeks ago.”
“He has two broken toes and a bone in his foot that’s broken, or something like that. That’s what his corner was telling me.”
“He is one of the toughest human beings on the planet, and he’s the number 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world,” Dana White said. “And seriously, you have to start putting him up there at GOAT status with whoever else you think is the GOAT.”
Khabib now 29-0 in his career.
In addition to Dana White, Khabib’s coach Javier Mendez spoke to Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole following the conclusion of UFC 254 and revealed more nagging injuries.
Before he broke a toe in his foot, Khabib had mumps. Coach Javier Mendez just told me that was the worst camp they had and he was out two weeks cuz of the mumps. Got it in mid-September. #UFC254
Before he broke a toe in his foot, Khabib had mumps. Coach Javier Mendez just told me that was the worst camp they had and he was out two weeks cuz of the mumps. Got it in mid-September. #UFC254
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) October 24, 2020
Despite that injury, Khabib displayed such a great performance and dismantled the toughest guy in the lightweight division.
