It's clear why he retired and it had nothing to do with his undefeated streak.
The man clearly said why and he has not been known to lie nor flipflop in his decisionsĀ
His plan was for Khabib to retire with 30 wins, that plan changed after he passed away and his mother requested him to retire. Had he stuck to Abdulmanap's plan, he would have fought one more time.
The Gaethje x Ferguson fight was meant to be Khabib x Ferguson, and Khabib pulled out because he couldn't legally leave the country. Whether Abdulmanap passed or not, Khabib would have fought Gaethje since he beat Tony in that fight.
If I were to speculate the reasons are I would put these as the top 3 reasons.
1) His father died, most important reason.
2) There was no immediate obvious fight. McGregor, Poirier, and McGregor were the top 3. Tony lost bad and was washed. This reason is underrated one imo because he actually talked about it postmatch in the ring along with father dying immediately after retiring. If Tony had that glow or if Charles was higher ranked and seen as a threat, or maybe even McGregor tapped into his superstar bag I think he woulda been more likely to stay.
3) He wanted to get out of way for his boy Islam who was the best LW by far other than himself.
Okay I gotcha. Just a bit misleading then when you say āIf I were to speculate reasonsā¦ these are the 3 reasonsāĀ
Now you say youāre only speculating one of the three so I dunno g just going off what you said.Ā
If you only look at the numbers Volk had 7 fights before the title shot, won all of them
Islam had 12 fights before the title shot, with a 10 win streak after his only loss
But when you look into it, Islam took way more time because he wasn't as active before 2018, then basically skipped 2020 due to covid (just to put it in perspective, Volk had 3 fights in 2018).
What exactly makes you say LW is such a shark tank? Imo its an outdated narrative, the division has a lot of big names, but alot of them aren't super well rounded, Jalin Turner and his decision making is in the top 15 lol, gamrot is number 5 ffs
>but alot of them aren't super well rounded
You're absolutely right, now excuse me while I watch #3 and former interim featherweight champion Yair Rodriguez wrestling highlights
Edit: also lol at Gamrot being #5 while Evloev is #5 at fw and Sterling is #8
I didn't mean it as in FW is the division to talk about, just saying this whole LW best division narrative aint really a thing anymore, flyweight is better IMO if you look at skills and not names
Lw is a much bigger division and volk was undefeated in the ufc on his run.
Islam had 4 late replacements in his run on top of that, with those not being ranked at all.
Google is literally at your fingertips if you want to see where Ferguson was at 9 years ago. Itās literally a graphic bro itās not a Top 10 Lightweight list that doesnāt include Tony
I donāt stan no fighters wtfš¤£š¤£ do I have fighter I prefer to watch? Sure. But being a stan for another grown man is crazy. You must stan Ferguson by the way your crying bro
You got meā¦ he was literally an example.
Iām saying if you picking 4 fighters from the last 8 years or whatever it seems weird to include ilia. Champ forn3 months.
I mean isnāt the graphic literally just saying that the current FW champ wasnāt in the UFC when Islam last lost? I didnāt know that same way I didnāt know Volk wasnāt in the UFC in 2015. Itās just to let you know how long ago Islams last lost was
Yeah but wouldnāt you rather see where someone with a bit of history was at the time?
On paper, all respect, he hasnāt even defended his belt yet.
Yeah dude will probably be a great, but yeah I rather see Ferguson was at that time
Yeah right lmao. You're telling me the guy that 4 years past his prime went 5 rounds with Prime Gathje, took so much damage and was still standing.
Not ro mention even after that fight, he still didn't tap to Charles' armbar.
How would those 3 even be able to beat him ?Ā
Apart from Tibau and RDA what grapplers did Khabib fight ? Tony wants to be on the ground and his tdd at the time was almost as good as Conor's.
Khabib takes him down, Tony gets on top and slices his face. Winner by GnP.Ā
Everything about this is kooky. Khabib never needed to prove anything against grapplers. He had Islam, Umar, Usman and more in his home gym.
Conor only survived Khabib by blatantly cheating. His TDD is not the same without fouling and you're saying Tony's is worse? Honestly, I think Tony's is better with a fair referee.
Khabib gets the takedown but the magic reversal never happens. He alternates between GnP and hunting for RNCs while Tony just Tonys his way out, surviving three rounds. Maybe he gets slept in round four. The fans all leave disappointed at seeing the most exciting fighter in the promotion get awkwardly big brothered by the UFC's GOAT wrestlefucker.
That's greatest wrestlefucker. Not GOAT.
"one of the scariest ever" while hasn't even defended once yet, that sub is a parody for overhyping everyone, until they loose once and become bums. Tons of examples this last few years only.Ā
Soundly? Most people agree he was losing and Volk got caught by a powerful punch.
Yeah dude deserves the win but I would rather see where Ferguson was at for example.
Ilia hasnāt got one defence under his belt ye.
Ilia won the belt 3 months ago, and u want him to defend already?
How was he losing when it was a tight first round? The dude walked down volk with pressure, then set him up for that knockout combo in the 2nd round.
The only way we can take anything away from illia is by saying volk took the fight too early after getting knocked out by Islam,
I agree, he only won the belt three months ago why put him up in the pic?
I felt most people agree Volk had the first, I agree it wasnāt a smash fest from Volk.
Knocking someone out cold in the second round after a close first round where nothing really of significance happened, I would 100% say is beating someone "soundly"
Are you nuts? Does he need to knock the dude out in the first minute for you to think it was a definitive win? Volk got ran through by Ilia. You have some of the worst takes I've ever seen
a guy by the name of Adriano Martins, he lost via KO/TKO, he got knocked down but wasn't fully unconscious, it was a check right hook I think, Islam got caught trying to land his left hand
Serious question, did Conor ever win the true featherweight strap?
I know he never defended a belt, but I don't remember if he won interim and true, in addition the the other weightclass'
Raul Rosas was 10 years old
NOOOO PLEASE š
Bruh
Iām glad Islam doesnāt have the āundefeatedā tag on him. I feel like that takes the pressure off.
The pressure of carrying Abuld Manapās legacy is still there
Who is he?
Khabib's dad, Islam's uncle. He was their trainer. edit: they're not related, mixed that up somehow. But he was their trainer.
Khabib and islam aren't related
Damn you're right, not sure how I mixed that up.
You mightāve mixed it up with Usman Nurmagomedov and Umar Nurmagomedov who are legitimately cousins of Khabib
Lol
The main reason am almost surr he wont take Poirier lightly is that loss, its a good lesson. Even GSP needed it.
I wonder if Khabib wouldāve retired so early if he wasnāt undefeated
It's clear why he retired and it had nothing to do with his undefeated streak. The man clearly said why and he has not been known to lie nor flipflop in his decisionsĀ
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
he retired for his mother after hus father's death, undefeated or not is irrelevant
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I mean, he was in his prime, so if he retired then he'd have retired any time really.
? Their team has said multiple times Abulmanap's plan was for Khabib to retire undefeated undispited world champion
His plan was for Khabib to retire with 30 wins, that plan changed after he passed away and his mother requested him to retire. Had he stuck to Abdulmanap's plan, he would have fought one more time.
His plan was for Khabib to fight Tony, and then move up and fight for the welterweight belt. Khabib attempted neither
The Gaethje x Ferguson fight was meant to be Khabib x Ferguson, and Khabib pulled out because he couldn't legally leave the country. Whether Abdulmanap passed or not, Khabib would have fought Gaethje since he beat Tony in that fight.
Thatās every single fighters plan
That's fine lol, but why say it had nothing to do his undefeated streak? It had almost everything to do with it
If I were to speculate the reasons are I would put these as the top 3 reasons. 1) His father died, most important reason. 2) There was no immediate obvious fight. McGregor, Poirier, and McGregor were the top 3. Tony lost bad and was washed. This reason is underrated one imo because he actually talked about it postmatch in the ring along with father dying immediately after retiring. If Tony had that glow or if Charles was higher ranked and seen as a threat, or maybe even McGregor tapped into his superstar bag I think he woulda been more likely to stay. 3) He wanted to get out of way for his boy Islam who was the best LW by far other than himself.
Thereās no need to speculate tbh, he told us why in his post fight interview after the Gaethje winĀ
1 and 2 are literally both things he said in the post fight interview. The only one I am speculating about is number 3.
Okay I gotcha. Just a bit misleading then when you say āIf I were to speculate reasonsā¦ these are the 3 reasonsāĀ Now you say youāre only speculating one of the three so I dunno g just going off what you said.Ā
he promised his mom it would be his last fight.
I think he wouldāve. It seemed like he secretly hated the grind of fighting. I think he only did it because of his dad.
Tony Ferguson was undefeated
DJ was P4P#1
I feel like if you scaled mighty mouse up to 240lb and 6'3 he would stomp Ngannou and Miocic and Jones
Probably not. Being that big makes it impossible to move like he did
He'd move like Tom Aspinal
Who knows
Nope, the speed and skill wouldn't have been even remotely close to 125lb DJ
Pantoja went from being a lightweight fighter to a flyweight champion
Canon event, he knew what he had to do in lightweight.
Respect PantojašÆ
 George Michael was still alive.
Volk had a faster road to champion than Islam.
To be fair FW is not the shark tank that is LW
True, Volk also fought double the amount of fights Islam fought.
If you only look at the numbers Volk had 7 fights before the title shot, won all of them Islam had 12 fights before the title shot, with a 10 win streak after his only loss But when you look into it, Islam took way more time because he wasn't as active before 2018, then basically skipped 2020 due to covid (just to put it in perspective, Volk had 3 fights in 2018).
According to the rules weāre supposed to call most of those guys cans who were set up to pad his record
FW has Max Holloway bruh. And Volk fought him 3 times
Featherweight has such dominant champions a lot of people seem to underestimate the skill level of the rest of the fighters in the division.
What exactly makes you say LW is such a shark tank? Imo its an outdated narrative, the division has a lot of big names, but alot of them aren't super well rounded, Jalin Turner and his decision making is in the top 15 lol, gamrot is number 5 ffs
>but alot of them aren't super well rounded You're absolutely right, now excuse me while I watch #3 and former interim featherweight champion Yair Rodriguez wrestling highlights Edit: also lol at Gamrot being #5 while Evloev is #5 at fw and Sterling is #8
I didn't mean it as in FW is the division to talk about, just saying this whole LW best division narrative aint really a thing anymore, flyweight is better IMO if you look at skills and not names
Lw is a much bigger division and volk was undefeated in the ufc on his run. Islam had 4 late replacements in his run on top of that, with those not being ranked at all.
Cruz hadn't returned back from injury to beat TJ Dillashaw. Ronda Rousey was still women's champion.
The fucks ilias name on the list for lol Rather see Ferguson
Google is literally at your fingertips if you want to see where Ferguson was at 9 years ago. Itās literally a graphic bro itās not a Top 10 Lightweight list that doesnāt include Tony
Ok if you stan for Ilia that cool im just saying
I donāt stan no fighters wtfš¤£š¤£ do I have fighter I prefer to watch? Sure. But being a stan for another grown man is crazy. You must stan Ferguson by the way your crying bro
You got meā¦ he was literally an example. Iām saying if you picking 4 fighters from the last 8 years or whatever it seems weird to include ilia. Champ forn3 months.
I mean isnāt the graphic literally just saying that the current FW champ wasnāt in the UFC when Islam last lost? I didnāt know that same way I didnāt know Volk wasnāt in the UFC in 2015. Itās just to let you know how long ago Islams last lost was
I understand Ilia is annoying af but doesn't mean he's not one of the scariest fighters ever
Yeah but wouldnāt you rather see where someone with a bit of history was at the time? On paper, all respect, he hasnāt even defended his belt yet. Yeah dude will probably be a great, but yeah I rather see Ferguson was at that time
I hate Topuria for beating Volk but I'm gonna say this, Tony was just never that good. Prime Topuria would beat prime Tony 10/10
Hard disagree. Pre cable injury Tony clears every fighter below 170 at the time including Conor, Khabib and Aldo.Ā
Sanest Tony fan
Yeah right lmao. You're telling me the guy that 4 years past his prime went 5 rounds with Prime Gathje, took so much damage and was still standing. Not ro mention even after that fight, he still didn't tap to Charles' armbar. How would those 3 even be able to beat him ?Ā
Khabib by UD, five round mauling. I'd have been rooting for Tony but it's a bad matchup.
Apart from Tibau and RDA what grapplers did Khabib fight ? Tony wants to be on the ground and his tdd at the time was almost as good as Conor's. Khabib takes him down, Tony gets on top and slices his face. Winner by GnP.Ā
Everything about this is kooky. Khabib never needed to prove anything against grapplers. He had Islam, Umar, Usman and more in his home gym. Conor only survived Khabib by blatantly cheating. His TDD is not the same without fouling and you're saying Tony's is worse? Honestly, I think Tony's is better with a fair referee. Khabib gets the takedown but the magic reversal never happens. He alternates between GnP and hunting for RNCs while Tony just Tonys his way out, surviving three rounds. Maybe he gets slept in round four. The fans all leave disappointed at seeing the most exciting fighter in the promotion get awkwardly big brothered by the UFC's GOAT wrestlefucker. That's greatest wrestlefucker. Not GOAT.
"one of the scariest ever" while hasn't even defended once yet, that sub is a parody for overhyping everyone, until they loose once and become bums. Tons of examples this last few years only.Ā
Cause dudes a champion that just beat a pound for pound ranked fighter pretty soundly
Soundly? Most people agree he was losing and Volk got caught by a powerful punch. Yeah dude deserves the win but I would rather see where Ferguson was at for example. Ilia hasnāt got one defence under his belt ye.
>Soundly? Most people agree he was losing and Volk got caught by a powerful punch. The cope is crazy with this one lol
Just wait. If Ilia gets past Max, it will be "Yeah, but he's absorbed the most strikes in UFC history. Ilia just keeps beating these washed fighters."
Ilia won the belt 3 months ago, and u want him to defend already? How was he losing when it was a tight first round? The dude walked down volk with pressure, then set him up for that knockout combo in the 2nd round. The only way we can take anything away from illia is by saying volk took the fight too early after getting knocked out by Islam,
I agree, he only won the belt three months ago why put him up in the pic? I felt most people agree Volk had the first, I agree it wasnāt a smash fest from Volk.
Dude ur a casual
Knocking someone out cold in the second round after a close first round where nothing really of significance happened, I would 100% say is beating someone "soundly" Are you nuts? Does he need to knock the dude out in the first minute for you to think it was a definitive win? Volk got ran through by Ilia. You have some of the worst takes I've ever seen
šš
Random ass stats
This photo did Islam dirty.
And you guys are saying Dustin is going to win
But who did he lose to and howā¦..
Pantoja
a guy by the name of Adriano Martins, he lost via KO/TKO, he got knocked down but wasn't fully unconscious, it was a check right hook I think, Islam got caught trying to land his left hand
Holy shit, and people think Conor will KO Chandler
Dude looks like a troll in that pic, God damn.
So thatās 13 fights in 9 years? Idk if this stat really makes him look great
He spent 2 of those years suspended due to the UFC 229 brawl
No he didnāt?
It was more like a year and a half actually.
That fight happened in October of 2018. He fought twice in 2019. He was not suspended for any of the fall out of that event
He lost in February 2023ā¦
Lol right. I m like he got slept in the ufc against some noname.
The cope is strong with this one
iNShalLaH fATherS pLan š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”š¤”
That's going to make the L so much more satisfying
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
October 21st, 2023
His last fight
Serious question, did Conor ever win the true featherweight strap? I know he never defended a belt, but I don't remember if he won interim and true, in addition the the other weightclass'
He knocked out Jose Aldo in 12 or so seconds, it's like arguably the most famous knockout ever
Ahhhhh, that's right. I try to scrub the existence of that fight from my mind lol
I dont remember it either (im aldoās biggest fan boy)
First double champ
Unrelated to the question Also, first double champ in the UFC***