The timing of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s retirement may have been surprising, but given how he’s dictated his entire career, it shouldn’t have been.
Forget going 30-0. Forget potential legacy fights, grudge matches. Forget the money. Nurmagomedov picked the perfect time to walk away.
His hand raised, victorious in a place that idolizes him, a dangerous opponent vanquished, Nurmagomedov took even stronger hold of a moment that he had already seized and ended things on his terms.
“It was my last fight,” Nurmagomedov stated, shortly after submitting Justin Gaethje in the main event of UFC 254.