Khabib has officially retired.
The UFC lightweight champion, who retired after his last fight last fall, has left the door open to a possible return in recent months, even commenting to Esquire Middle East in his only interview in that period: “I think only time will answer this question. We will see.”
UFC President Dana White, however, who has publicly hoped that Khabib would change his mind, announced that the undefeated fighter won’t be coming back to the octagon after all.
His last fight was officially his successful title defense against Justin Gaethje at UFC 254.
His retirement originally came after a difficult year in the personal life of the fighter, who lost his father and coach to COVID-19, promising his mother he would retire without his father to be there with him.
“29-0 it is,” White said, commenting on his immaculate and now forever set in stone record.
“He is 100 percent officially retired. It was incredible to watch you work, Khabib. Thank you for EVERYTHING and enjoy whatever is next my friend.”
With that ends perhaps the greatest career of any lightweight fighter in the history of MMA.
“Dana – I’ll never forget your attitude towards me, my father did not forget and my sons will remember you.
Today there was a real conversation between real men,” Khabib wrote on instagram.
“I hope you will accept my decision and understand me,” Khabib continued.
Earlier this month, Khabib has acted, for all intents and purposes, as the coach of the 29-year-old Islam Makhachev, with whom he grew up in the Republic of Dagestan in Russia.
The renowned fighter has yet to fully transition into the next phase in his career, he told Esquire Middle East in an exclusive interview, his first since stepping away from fighting, but it is clear now hat will come next: coaching.
“Now that I’m not going to train any more, I have people close to me—brothers and friends—who are now fighting at the highest level,” he says. “There are about five or six people who we are building the path with, and I will help them, train with them, share my experiences,” Khabib told Esquire Middle East.
He will not accept the title yet, however. When asked if he plans on going into coaching the next generation of fighters he stopped short of that accepting the title of coach.
“To some extent, this can be called a coaching life, but I am not going to fully enter into coaching. I will always be there and share my experience.”
Khabib has never been comfortable with the term coach, even for his late father, who was integral in his success.
“I would not want people to associate him as a coach, as a person who developed wrestling or something else. My father had a lot of projects and the biggest thing he did was he brought up people, brought up a personality and he always told me: “The biggest and best investment is investing in people”,” Khabib said.
“There were a lot of relatives close, whom my father both supported and raised. There were many orphans who he watched over and cared for. So in this direction he left a very large legacy. A lot of people depended on him. Of course, it all depends on the Almighty, but he was the reason for this. So, I thought that he left a huge legacy and over time people will understand it even more.”
Khabib as a fighter felt he had hit his limit, so while he will continue to train with his inner circle, he has ratcheted down his training from what it once was.
“Every day I woke up in the morning and started training, and in the evening my body was exhausted, because I had brought it to the limit. I just want to live a life in which I can get at least a little sleep before lunchtime, to live for myself and not devote myself 100 percent to sports,” said Khabib.
The writing was on the wall that his time as a fighter was truly through. Now that it is clear, perhaps he will now embrace his destiny as the shaper of the next generation of UFC greats.
