UFC to make Khabib Nurmagomedov announcement today ahead of Conor McGregor fight

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UFC boss Dana White has confirmed he will make a major announcement regarding the future of Khabib Nurmagomedov at 8pm (GMT) and has already revealed it will have a direct impact on the Conor McGregor versus Dustin Poirier contest next week. White met with the Russian MMA star in Abu Dhabi last night, with the UFC president hoping he could persuade the 32-year-old to come out of retirement.

Khabib is the current UFC lightweight champion following his second-round stoppage of Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in October.

But immediately after the contest on Fight Island, he announced his retirement from the sport.

It was the first time he had fought since the death of his father and lifelong coach Abdulmanap, whose heart condition had been exacerbated by COVID-19, and Khabib said he wouldn’t want to carry on without his father in his corner.

White and Khabib met last night in Abu Dhabi and the UFC boss revealed the outcome of the conversation will have an impact on the Poirier versus McGregor bout on January 23.

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White tweeted: “Met with UFC Lightweight Champion @TeamKhabib last night. Will announce his decision LIVE on ABC at 3pm ET.”

In the accompanying video, White added: “What’s up, everybody? I met with Khabib Nurmagomedov last night and today at 3pm on the East Coast, on ABC on the Network, I’m going to talk about his decision and how it’s going to impact the Poirier-McGregor fight next weekend, and the co-main event in the lightweight division.”

The co-main event for UFC 257 is the fight between fellow lightweights Dan Hooker and Michael Chandler, and tonight’s announcement – whatever it is – would likely have an impact on their title aspirations.

White’s tweet and video had MMA fans’ tongues wagging as they discussed what the possible outcome could mean.

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If Khabib remains retired, then the Poirier-McGregor contest would probably become for the lightweight title, while if White announces Khabib plans to return to the ring, then it would likely make next Saturday’s contest a number one contenders fight.

There may also be the possibility that Khabib remaining retired could open up the door for a lightweight tournament, involving the likes of Gaethje, Chandler, Hooker and Charles Oliveira.

In December, the UFC seemed to accidentally reveal Poirier-McGregor 2 would be for Khabib’s lightweight belt, when the MMA promotion company accidentally posted a message on Twitter which said it would be a title fight.

The UFC’s Twitter direct message chatbot posted: “Don’t miss Poirier take on McGregor for the lightweight title bout. Who do you think will walk out of the Octagon with the W?”

But it was quickly picked up on by fans and a replacement message saw the ‘title’ reference removed.

And speaking earlier this week, Khabib’s head coach Javier Mendez said he expected White to do everything possible to encourage the fighter back into the octagon.

Mendez told The Sun: “I think Dana has it in his mind to give him an offer he can’t refuse.”

Before adding: “Let’s face it, how many times has Dana failed at doing something he wanted to do? Not much. Dana does what he says.”

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