Khabib Nurmagomedov said that Dana White has made a mistake by not responding to his text message. Khabib speculates that the UFC president might have been busy when he reached out to him and otherwise would have texted back.
Khabib was on an interview with ESPN MMA and Brett Okamoto when he was asked if he reached out to Dana White to get Islam Makhachev the title shot against Charles Oliveira. Khabib in fact did try and lobby for his friend but did not get a response back from the UFC head honcho.
There has been a lot of talk of Islam Makhachev fighting for the lightweight strap against Oliveira. Dana White himself said in the post-UFC 274 press conference that he “wouldn’t mind” seeing Islam fight against Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight belt.
Out of all the current top 5 lightweight contenders, Only Islam Makhchev hasn’t fought for the belt against “Du Bronx”. With Micheal Chandler, Dustin Poirier, and Justin Gaethje all having lost their fights against Oliveira, Islam remains the one and only reasonable matchup.
If Dana White willfully ignored Khabib or he just missed his text could not be confirmed. But Khabib took it lightly and said “Everybody makes mistakes” in a joking manner. Khabib Nurmagomedov and Dana White have been friends for a long time and remain amicable.
But when Khabib decided to retire from the sport, Dana was persistent about keeping him around and offered him large contracts. But Khabib refused to come back because he made a promise to his mother about not fighting anymore.
Although Khabib Nurmagomedov is gone, his protege Islam carries on his way of Dagestani wrestling and has shown similar levels of dominance inside the octagon! Islam will be Charles Oliveira’s toughest opponent if they do throwdown at the end of 2022!
