Georges St. Pierre: Khabib Nurmagomedov Left An ‘Incredible Legacy’ in MMA
Georges St. Pierre was supposed to be magic No. 30 on Khabib Nurmagomedov’s journey to retirement.
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“Today, I want to say, this was my last fight. No way am I going to come here without my father,” Nurmagomedov said. “It was first time, after what happened with my father, when UFC called me about Justin. I talk with my mother three days, she don’t want that I go fight without father. I promised her, it’s going to be my last fight, and if I give my word, I have to follow this. It was my last fight here.”
St. Pierre knows a little something about surprise announcements:
He took an indefinite hiatus from the sport after defeating
Johny
Hendricks at UFC 167 in November 2013, a revelation that
initially sent UFC president Dana White into a rage. Still, even
the former welterweight and middleweight champ was taken aback by
Nurmagomedov’s announcement, though he was effusive in his praised
for the 155-pound king.
“I was surprised,” St-Pierre told ESPN. “I was not expecting that at all. … I thought he wanted to do, and all the people in the media said he wanted to do 30-0. That’s his choice. What a great way to finish a career. He left an incredible legacy. One of the best to have ever done it — maybe the best to have ever done it.”
St. Pierre is another fighter regarded on the short list of top pound-for-pound figthters ever, along with the likes of Anderson Silva and Jon Jones. He briefly returned from hiatus to claim the 185-pound belt with a win over Michael Bisping in 2017 but retired again shortly thereafter when negotiations for a potential bout vs. Nurmagomedov fell through.
Talks of the dream matchup resurfaced in recent weeks, and there seemed to be hope that the promotion would make it a reality if Nurmagomedov could get past Gaethje. Those hopes are no longer, as Nurmagomedov rides off into the sunset with a 29-0 mark.
“It did not happen,” St. Pierre said of the fight. “I’m good where I am. Khabib is invincible now. He’s undefeated. It was a perfect career. There’s nothing we can say bad about him. It’s a perfect career, like 29-0 and you retire on top with the best performance of his career. What do you want more? It was incredible. It was a perfect fight in a perfect career — as close as it gets.”
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