Dana White remains hopeful he can convince Khabib Nurmagomedov to fight again

UFC president Dana White is crossing his fingers that he can convince Khabib Nurmagomedov to step inside the cage again.

The unbeaten 32-year-old from Dagestan decided to retire from professional mixed martial arts with a perfect record of 29-0 following his third successful defense of the UFC lightweight world title via second-round submission against Justin Gaethje last October.

Nurmagomedov cited that he does not want to continue his career without the guidance of his father Abdulmanap, who died last July from complications brought upon by COVID-19. But if there is a reason he would get back to action, it would be because of his dad too, according to White.

“I think his dad wanting him to get to 30-0 is in the back of his mind, and he wants to achieve that because he knew his father wanted it but we’ll see,” White told BT Sport.

And even though Nurmagomedov has told several times that his decision to call it a day is final, White is not giving up just yet as they are set to meet in January.

“Him and I are getting together next month and talk. He might not want to fight, I don’t know the answer to that. But I’m a little confident that I can talk him into it.” – JM Siasat/RC, GMA News