Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s retirement in October 2020 was one of the most momentous moments in the history of mixed martial arts. After all, he was undefeated, the champion, and seemingly unbeatable. It seemed the Khabib Era in the UFC was just beginning.

Alas, his father, who had been his first coach and every step of the way with him throughout his MMA journey, passed away in July 2020. And his mother, fearing who would look after Khabib’s well-being after his father’s passing away, made him promise to quit fighting. However, the former lightweight champ has revealed that he almost didn’t make it to his last fight.

Khabib Nurmagomedov almost pulled out of final fight out of concern for mother

Speaking to Adam Cattrall in a recent interview, Khabib has claimed that he made up his mind to retire after health issues nearly kept him out of the UFC 254 clash with Justin Gaethje. Reeling from his father’s death and having promised his mother it would be his last fight, things got even worse for him in the fight camp. He contracted such a serious case of mumps that he had to be hospitalized for a few weeks. To make matters worse, he broke his thumb in the lead-up to his final clash.

But the thing that troubled him most throughout this ordeal was how he will tell his mother he was still fighting Gaethje on UFC 254 despite facing these serious health setbacks. In fact, he wasn’t able to train a month before his fight because of the mumps. Naturally, his coach was concerned and seriously considered pulling Khabib out.

“Because in my head I was like, I was thinking all the time ‘It’s going to be my last fight and I really want to finish with this game.’ And I promise my mother and I say how I’m going to, when I have all injures when I was in hospital when I have this wife I was in hospital like one month before fight. And I was like ‘How I’m going to explain to mother I have injury, I have to go another training camp.’ She’s not going to understand me, you know. And I was like ‘Okay one more week I’m going to make decision,'” Khabib said.

Thankfully, he and coach Mendez kept putting off the decision whether or not to withdraw from UFC 254 until next week, until suddenly it was Fight Day. And since he had been able to train full five rounds albeit only for the past couple of weeks, he decided to fight Gaethje after all.

“I remember we was talking with all team with Coach. Coach Javier told me I remember next week we’re going to… make decision. And every day we just talk, talk, talk and it was everyday sparring days… Like we were thinking we’re going to cancel, cancel, cancel and Fight Day come,” he added.

The fight went as most Khabib fights go. Gaethje tried to keep ‘The Eagle’ at bay with his world-class striking before ‘The Eagle’ inevitably managed to take ‘Human Highlight’ down and finished him there before the second round ended.

What made the announcement of his retirement so effective was that no one really knew he was going to retire. This is why the tearful and incredibly moving scene of his retirement is etched in most MMA fan’s memory.

Why ‘The Eagle’s retirement came as such a huge shock

“A man’s man” – this is how Dana White befittingly described Khabib after his retirement. Nurmagomedov had been in camp for the Gaethje fight when his father died. Since he had a job to do and a fight to win, he refused to grieve for his father before the fight, and concentrated on preparing for the fight instead. The floodgates, however, opened as soon as he had beaten Gaethje. Khabib immediately broke down crying in the Octagon, sobbing inconsolably in the middle of the cage, even as a beaten Justin Gaehtje tried to console him, without any success.

A few minutes later, he announced he was quitting the sport entirely! As we have mentioned, virtually no one knew he was retiring which is why it came as a shock to everyone. The first reaction to the announcement was disbelief and denial.

Even his archrival Conor McGregor tweeted, “Good performance @TeamKhabib. I will carry on. Respect and condolences on your father again also. To you and family. Yours sincerely, The McGregors.” But the Irishman’s live reaction, as shown in his documentary ‘McGregor Forever’ painted a much different picture.

McGregor said, “I know he’s always had retirement on his mind, he doesn’t really want to be in there too much I don’t think, so it is what it is… He said he had a conversation with his mother. Talked to her for three days. So, it is what it s, I couldn’t give a f***.” ‘The Notorious’ then added a hopeful comment about a rematch saying, “Nah it’ll happen, I don’t believe it [the retirement]!”

Some felt this was just the emotions getting the better of Khabib, who will surely reconsider after he gets his bearings. Surely the money he was leaving on the table by retiring was too much to seriously never fight again.

Alas, that was not to be. Nurmagomedov has been firm on his decision and has stayed retired ever since, even retiring from coaching early last year. Now the former lightweight champion is an entrepreneur and philanthropist for the most part, although he does occasionally corner his friends. But for the most part, he has completely divorced himself from the sport. What are your thoughts on Khabib’s revelations?