Rumours have been circulating recently about the potential for a grappling match between two of the greatest MMA fighters in the history of the sport, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Georges St-Pierre. This is just the latest entry in a long-running saga between the two men, as fans have been positively salivating at the thought of the two standing across from one another in the octagon for quite some time. The plan for an MMA fight between them died relatively soon after it was born, when Nurmagomedov decided to retire from professional MMA competition after his victory over Justin Gaethje at UFC 254.
When it became apparent that Khabib Nurmagomedov would not come out of his retirement in order to face Georges St-Pierre, this is when discussion pivoted towards grappling matches instead. In fact MMA manager Ali Abdelaziz even offered another of Nurmagomedov’s old foes, Tony Ferguson, a grappling match against the UFC legend. While this didn’t come to fruition either, Nurmagomedov chose not to comment on the offer and remained suspiciously quiet on the potential match.
A grappling match is hardly something that would be new to Nurmagomedov either, as he has competed in several before and he even won the 2012 NAGA world championship. His wrestling and grappling talent only developed further after that point and as he ascended the ranks of the UFC Lightweight division, Nurmagomedov came to be recognized as one of the greatest MMA grapplers in the history of the sport. It’s this kind of ability and the remarkable level of success that he enjoyed throughout his career that has brought him to the attention of Georges St-Pierre, and caused the UFC legend to actually come up with a gameplan of how to defeat him.
Khabib Nurmagomedov broke his silence and spoke out about the potential grappling match between him and Georges St-Pierre in a live stream posted to his official Instagram account:
“I don’t see the point in it,” “You can, of course, add fuel to the fire. Say something… but I don’t want to. I don’t want to promote this topic. ‘Oh, I could return to Eagle FC,’ I don’t want to make it. I want to make PR for league in another format. I don’t think that I’ll return — wrestle with someone. Let others wrestle, who need it. Do I need it? In this life, we are not allowed to do everything we want. Your desire may not coincide with what you will do. You can just want it and that’s it. Does it make sense now to talk about my hunger? I do not see the point.”
