Sean O’Malley believes Charles Oliveira is the ‘only one’ that can give Khabib Nurmagomedov problems: ‘Maybe that’s why Khabib stepped away’

Sean O’Malley believes Charles Oliveira is the ‘only one’ that can give Khabib Nurmagomedov problems.

It was at UFC 254 in October of 2020 where Khabib Nurmagomedov (29-0 MMA) submitted Justin Gaethje (23-4 MMA) to retain his lightweight title and then proceeded to announce his retirement.

UFC bantamweight star, Sean O’Malley spoke with ‘Canal Encarada’ (transcribed by MMAFighting) about the potential of a Khabib vs Charles Oliveira fight saying:

“That’s the one interesting fight that I would like to see if Khabib came back in the division. It would be Charles. Everyone else I think Khabib kind of mauls. I think Charles is the only one that can really give Khabib problems and, who knows, maybe that’s why Khabib stepped away. Maybe he saw, ‘I don’t want that guy.’ Who knows, but yeah, that’s one fight that I would be interested in seeing Khabib come back for. It would be a massive fight.”

Nurmagomedov, 33, left the sport with a perfect record, along the way defeating some big names like Dustin Poirier (28-7 MMA), Conor McGregor (22-6 MMA), and Justin Gaethje.

Charles Oliveira (33-8 MMA) has won his last 11 fights in the Octagon, the most recent being against Justin Gaethje in May of this year at UFC 274.

It is unlikely that ‘The Eagle’ will come out of retirement unless UFC President Dana White can use his art of persuasion to make it happen. Khabib is currently busy running his own promotion, Eagle FC.

As for Sean O’Malley (15-1 MMA), he is looking to step into the cage with Pedro Munhoz (19-7 MMA) at UFC 276 on July 2nd in the bantamweight match-up.

Would you like to see Khabib come out of retirement to fight Charles Oliveira? Do you agree with O’Malley’s assessment of the fight?

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