Georges St-Pierre on why UFC stopped fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov: They didn’t want to risk it
Georges St-Pierre wanted to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Nurmagomedov wanted to fight St-Pierre.
According to St-Pierre, though, it was the UFC that didn’t want the fight to go down. They didn’t want him to beat Nurmagomedov and then retire and vacate the title — which he did after he returned to the sport to beat Michael Bisping in 2017 and captured the UFC middleweight title.
His interest in fighting Nurmagomedov, St-Pierre told ESPN on Tuesday, was never about winning another belt. It was simply about taking on “the best fighter in the world.”
“I know Khabib wanted to have that fight, I want it, but the thing is, if you look from the UFC’s side, I think it’s normal if I put myself in their shoes,” St-Pierre said, via ESPN. “They didn’t want to take the risk of me winning the title and then after vacating again.
“I didn’t even want it for the title. I would rather do it not for a title. For me, it was because I considered Khabib, right now, the best fighter in the world, and he wanted to fight me as well so I thought it was a good fan fight.”
Not having that fight didn’t end up being an issue for Nurmagomedov. The undefeated Russian beat Conor McGregor in 2018, and then knocked off Dustin Poirier nearly a year later to retain his lightweight title and keep his undefeated 28-0 record in one piece.
St-Pierre, on the other hand, hasn’t stepped into the octagon since he beat Bisping in 2017 and retired.
He isn’t mad, though, that the fight never went down. The 38-year-old said he understands why the UFC did what it did, and actually took it as a compliment.
“They didn’t want it. They had other plans for Khabib, and I understand that,” St-Pierre said, via ESPN. “They had a lot to lose and if they invest into that fight and their investment goes out after, it’s not a good move.
“In a way, I could take that as a compliment because maybe they saw me as a threat for them. That means maybe they thought they I could win the fight. If they let me fight him, maybe it’s because they think I would have lost. So that’s why.”
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