Khabib Nurmagomedov shares the three names he would like to face before retiring

Russia’s first and only UFC champion is none other than ‘The Eagle’, the 27-0 Sambo machine, Khabib Nurmagomedov.

In Nurmagomedov’s last time out, he participated in the biggest fight in UFC history when he made a successful title defense of his lightweight crown.

The Russian would dominate the former champion Conor McGregor on route to a fourth-round submission (neck crank) victory at UFC 229.

However, after the huge win, Nurmagomedov would let his emotions get the best of him as he jumped out of the Octagon to attack McGregor’s corner crew. Thus resulting in a likely fine and suspension that the details of remain to be determined.

Because of this, there’s no telling what could be next for The Eagle. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have some ideas in mind.

“I don’t know right now,” Nurmagomedov told Submission Radio. “But why not maybe [Georges] St-Pierre, [Tony] Ferguson and [Floyd] Mayweather, it will be these three guys and we can retire and become the greatest athlete of all time.”

Georges St-Pierre and Nurmagomedov have both been very vocal about having interest in fighting other all while having plenty of praise to show one another.

It’s a fight that doesn’t make a lot of sense, but when it comes to a pure skill vs skill matchup and legendary fight, it’s exactly what both are looking for.

“Georges St. Pierre is a very big name,” Nurmagomedocv said. “I like, an opponent who is a very tough opponent and he’s a little bit bigger than me. And if we’re gonna fight, we have to fight at 155, because 170 is his weight and he’s gonna be a little bit bigger than me. And for me, it’s like a smart decision taking him to 155. And yes, he’s a very big challenge for me.

“Like, for my legacy, he’s a very good match-up for my legacy, for fans, for money, for everywhere now. And I don’t know about his future, about his plans, but I respect him. In my opinion, he’s the greatest athlete who ever competed in the UFC, because he’s a champion inside the cage and outside the cage too. And we’ll see. But if you ask me about Georges St. Pierre and St. Pierre, of course, I’m interested in this match.”

Of course, the most logical and popular of the choices that the lightweight champion listed is Nurmagomedov’s fellow lightweight rival, Tony Ferguson.

The two have been scheduled to fight on four separate occasions so it’s just one of those fights that we all need to see and Nurmagomedov seems to still agree.

And the most illogical of the names he shared was obviously the last one in the all-time boxing great, Floyd Mayweather.

“Like, because he’s old now,” Nurmagomedov said of why he wants to fight Mayweather. “If you talk about like if I’m gonna compete with young lions in boxing, of course, it’s gonna be very tough for me. Like, even if you talk about Canelo [Alvarez] or [Gennady] Golovkin, these guys are dangerous. But Mayweather now is old, 41, 42 years old.

“You know, but he’s a very big name. If we can take very big fish, why not? A lot of people don’t understand about age, about when you did in competition. Like, they think, ‘oh, Mayweather and that’s it,’ or, ‘Conor and that’s it’. They don’t know what’s inside. We can take everything that they have. You know, all his 50-0, we can take this because he’s too old, too small, and it’s gonna be [a] smart decision for my future, for legacy, for money, for fans, for everywhere.”

Despite his recent exhibition match with Tenshin Nasukawa at RIZIN 14 and continued back and forths with Nurmagomedov, Mayweather continues to state that he is indeed staying retired.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 1/21/2019