Since he took charge of the UFC, Dana White has developed some great relationships with fighters, while also letting his unfiltered thoughts known about the ones that he may not be a fan of. That’s exactly what happened with Muhammad Mokaev, who rubbed the UFC execs in the wrong way. But when it comes to another Dagestani fighter, the legendary Khabib Nurmagomedov, things were a little different.

Khabib Nurmagomedov is one of the few UFC superstars who has an established cult following. Although he didn’t make much noise at the beginning of his UFC run, he’d always maintained the same kind of relationship even before he fought Conor McGregor, which turned out to be the biggest UFC fight in history.

Khabib Nurmagomedov claims he and Dana White had a “men’s relationship” in a resurfaced interview

2021 was a very sad year for UFC fans, as Khabib Nurmagomedov would bid adieu to MMA in the wake of his father’s passing due to COVID-19. He sat down for an interview with renowned journalist Adam Catterall, revealing plenty about what his relationship with Dana White was like. For starters, ‘The Eagle’ claimed that there was never a boring conversation between them, as things were very transparent between the former champion and his former employer.

“Dana always, we have fun talk. But me and him, I feel [we] always have [a] very clear relationship. When I feel something, I told him, you know,” 
said Khabib Nurmagomedov. The Dagestan native also revealed that not everybody had it like him with Dana White. He was one of the few who could go word-for-word with the 55-year-old. There was some real respect between the two UFC figures.

“I know [a] lot of people like little bit, like, they worry about themselves, you know. They cannot talk with Dana like very [clearly]. But since… when I was in the UFC to the end [of his run], me and Dana, we have a men’s relationship,” Khabib Nurmagomedov further added.

Given Khabib Nurmagomedov’s contribution and success in MMA, no wonder he still has a cordial bond with Dana White. However, guess what? There’s this one thing that might always hurt the biggest MMA promoter more than anything else, as he wished that ‘The Eagle’ fought a few more times to cement his status as a 155-pound legend.

White’s only disappointment with ‘The Eagle’

Losing out on big fighters is not Dana White’s MO. Of course, he made some efforts on his end to bring back the Dagestani phenom. But even a $40 million offer could not pull Khabib Nurmagomedov back. As such, he stayed true to his word because the needs of his family took precedence after the devastating loss of his father cum coach,  Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov. The UFC CEO always cites that to be the reason why ‘The Eagle’ hasn’t earned the best-ever tag.

“Khabib was a tough retirement, yeah, you know, coz I think Khabib had so much more to offer and so much more to accomplish,” Dana White told comedian Theo Von. Clearly, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s retirement at the peak of his prime stung the UFC CEO like a bee. Maybe Dana White had a rematch between him and Conor McGregor in mind. But we’ll never be too sure of that.

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