It’s expected that UFC lightewight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov will fight interim titleholder Dustin Porier at UFC 242 in September, but according to his manager Ali Abdelaziz, ‘The Eagle’ could then go on to fight Georges St-Pierre before the year is over.
The news emerged today after NSAC agreed to shorten the sentence handed down to two of Nurmagomedov’s teammates, Abubakar Nurmagomedov and Zubaira Tukhugov, for their role in the post-fight brawl with Conor McGregor at UFC 229 last year.
“I asked Khabib’s manager Ali Abdelaziz how close the Poirier fight in Abu Dhabi is, after NSAC shortened his teammates’ suspensions today,” ESPN’s Brett Okamoto noted on Twitter. “We are close. Good news coming very soon … And if all goes to plan, I think Khabib will fight Georges St-Pierre at the end of the year.”
That’s an interesting statement given that St-Pierre indicated that he was retiring from the sport back in February, but prior to that he had been known to be interested in the possibility of fighting the Russian ace, and Nurmagomedov appeared to also be enthused by that possibility.
The fight with Poirier is likely to come first though and that’s certainly not one that Nurmagomedov can afford to look, particularly at a time when ‘The Diamond’ is in the best form of his life, having just defeated featherweight champion Max Holloway in his lightweight debut.
