Morning report: Georges St-Pierre evokes the lost fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov

For several years, UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and his team have expressed their desire to fight UFC Hall of Famer Georges St-Pierre. However, things changed last year when Khabib’s father Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov passed away from COVID-19. Khabib fought once after his father passed away, a successful title defense against Justin Gaethje at UFC 254, and then announced his retirement there in the cage. It was a decision that caught everyone off guard, including St-Pierre, who was commenting in French for the event.

“I was in the same boat as everyone else,” St-Pierre told Michael Bisping on his Believe me Podcast. “I thought he might have called me to maybe pressure the UFC to organize the fight.”

Khabib’s decision was perhaps more shocking than it should have been because in the run-up to UFC 254, Khabib’s team gave little indication of their intention to retire, speaking potential next fights. In fact, as UFC 254 approached, the general assumption seemed to be that Khabib would defend his title against Gaethje, then look to set up a retired fight against St-Pierre afterwards, hopefully leaving the sport at 30-0 in tribute to his father. dream for him. But even if Khabib hadn’t retired, St-Pierre says there was no guarantee the fight would have taken place anyway.

“It doesn’t mean that I would have accepted,” said St-Pierre. “Everyone’s like, ‘Oh, when is this going to happen?’ I never said I wanted to do it. It also depends on the conditions. I could seriously think about it if the conditions are right in terms of weight class and stuff, but there’s no way I’m going down to 155 now. I’m 39 and it’s out of the window …

“We’re both roughly the same size. I will not lie. I wake up in the morning and am about 183 pounds. I’m sure he’s about the same weight as me, if not probably bigger. So I think the weight class – it’s like a novelty fight, a superfight – you have to state the rule maybe no weight class or maybe (that) you can’t be more than three for hundred different in terms of weight. I don’t know but there are ways to do it. You don’t have to cut the weight and damage yourself to do something like this.

Historically, Khabib has shown little interest in competing outside of his weight division, however, the point is now moot as even UFC president Dana White has ultimately had to admit that Khabib’s retirement appears to be authentic. That means fans can only imagine what a great fight between the two would look like, but St-Pierre has his thoughts on how he would have approached the contest.

“If in a hypothetical world this fight were to happen, I think I should use all my tools,” said St-Pierre. “I’m good at what I do and just because I’m fighting Khabib doesn’t mean I’m going to change the way I fight. The way I fight is how I’ve been successful my entire career. I think the mistake a lot of guys make when they fight Khabib is that they change the way they fight because Khabib is widely known to be probably the best wrestler in the sport. (But) I’m good with the withdrawal, to mix it up. Just because I’m fighting Khabib doesn’t mean I’m not going to mix him up with him. If I have a chance to put it down, I’ll try to put it down. I believe in my chance to put him down and I trust myself. I think confidence is a very important piece of the puzzle in MMA to be successful and I believe a lot of guys when they fight legendary fighter status, part of that confidence and skill goes away. This is one of the mistakes I wouldn’t make because I know Khabib wouldn’t do it against myself.

Sadly, the end of the Khabib-GSP superfight signals not only Khabib’s retirement, but also possibly the last hope for another St-Pierre fight. St-Pierre retired in 2019 after talks for a fight against Khabib were summarily pushed back by the UFC, but he has since dwelled on the possibility of a return specifically for that fight. Now that Khabib is gone, St-Pierre admits he’s not sure what it would be, but it would take something special to bring him back.

“If the UFC wanted me to come back, I wouldn’t be the one trying to go begging for a fight. “Hey please, can I come back? They’re gonna get rid of the shit! Said St-Pierre. “It would be the dumbest thing I can do. If they have an offer for me, an offer I can’t refuse, Dana knows where to reach me.

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Drawing-board. Conor McGregor plans to “regroup”, interested in the Dustin Poirier and Nate Diaz trilogy fights.

Let it go. Dana White: If Khabib Nurmagomedov doesn’t want to defend his title, “I won’t push him anymore”.

Whimsical. Michael Chandler hopes Khabib Nurmagomedov will return for one last fight so “ he will be 29 and Chandler ”.

Sad. BJ Penn arrested, released on suspicion of DUI, video shows meeting with belligerents.

Apologies. ESPN apologizes for the technical issues that plagued UFC 257 on the map.

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Top land and book to Bellator.

Marc Goddard talks about good saves vs bad saves.

Michael Chandler thinks he’s next.

Chandler’s KO.

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The Co-Main Event. Discuss the fallout of UFC 257.

Unfiltered CFU. Interviews with Gilbert Burns and Michael Chiesa.

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Nate has some thoughts.

Do it.

He will rebuild. . .

Motivation.

Ready to do it.

Rivalry.

Please clarify.

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Robert whittaker (22-5) c. Paulo costa (13-1); UFC Fight Night, April 17.

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Remember when Nate fought for the lightweight title? Khabib would fight him. . . not good for Nate.

Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow.

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