If UFC 257 truly was about someone from the lightweight pack producing an outstanding performance to impress the still-incumbent UFC lightweight champion, we’d be talking about a Khabib Nurmagomedov comeback right now. But now, after it seems clear he was only really seriously considering a rematch with Conor McGregor, it’s time to move on and begin the post-Khabib era.
Ahead of the event, the stakes were raised when Nurmagomedov and White had their meeting at a UAE Warriors event, where much was made of the pair sitting down to thrash out the conditions that, it was hoped, would coax the 29-0 champ out of retirement and back into the octagon.
After that meeting, White told the world that the gauntlet had been thrown down to the four lightweights at the top of UFC 257, saying that Khabib told him, “If these guys do something spectacular – show me something spectacular, and make me want to come back and fight.” The UFC boss then declared, “I have the feeling if somebody delivers, it could be on the co-main event or the main event – and he thought Oliveira looked good (vs. Tony Ferguson) – if these guys can do something special, Khabib will fight them.”
With the dust now settled after the UFC’s first pay-per-view event of 2021, it’s hard to look back at the card and say that Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler didn’t do something special. They both delivered in spectacular style.
Poirier finished Conor McGregor two rounds faster than Khabib managed at UFC 229, closing the show with a blistering salvo of punches to hand the Irishman the first loss of his career from strikes. Notably, his first-round tactic of looking to wrestle with McGregor was exactly what Nurmagomedov told White that Poirier should do to win the fight.
Chandler, meanwhile, bounced his way into the octagon and put away the teak-tough Dan Hooker in just half a round before issuing a direct callout to Khabib to “beat me, if you can.” When White was asked if he could think of a more impressive UFC debut than the one he’d just witnessed from the former three-time Bellator champion, the UFC boss admitted he couldn’t.
After a pair of performances like those, you’d assume that Khabib would simply have to decide which of the two big winners was the most interesting to him as his 30th career opponent. But when White arrived at the post-fight press conference, he quickly revealed that the watching champ, to paraphrase Georges St-Pierre, wasn’t impressed.
“He said to me, ‘Dana, be honest with yourself. You know, I’m so many levels above these guys. I beat these guys.’” White said. “I don’t know. I don’t know what he’s (thinking). But it doesn’t sound very positive. So we’ll see.”
It suggests that Khabib was really only looking at McGregor as a possible opponent. And without the Dubliner on the opposite side of the cage, there simply isn’t anyone else at 155 pounds who gets him excited enough to return. That’s a shame, especially given the fact that Saturday’s event saw a brand new challenger emerge from the pack. Chandler really couldn’t have done much more to impress, but it still wasn’t enough.
The narrative the four lightweights at the top of the UFC 257 card were sold heading into fight night was clear: Do something spectacular, and you could end up fighting Khabib for the title. Poirier and Chandler more than held up their side of the bargain. It’s a shame that both men look set to miss out on that fight.
Now it seems like it’s time for the UFC to move on from the “will-he-or-won’t-he” situation with Nurmagomedov and book Poirier and Chandler to face off for the vacant title this summer, in front of fans, on “Fight Island.”
It would have been great to see Nurmagomedov return to try to make it 30-0, but if he says he’s done, we should leave it at that. Nurmagomedov’s championship legacy is secure. Now it’s time for someone else to build his.
It’s time for the UFC to begin the post-Khabib era at lightweight | Opinion