“At some point, I thought that Khabib was the only fight for which I would return,” the legendary Canadian said in the next edition of the Full Send podcast. “It was like that until his last fight against Justin Gaethje, which I commentated from Montreal.”
“Everyone, including his entourage, told me before the fight, ‘Be ready, because he’s going to challenge you,’ so I was ready to come out of retirement. I thought I was done but they made me think I was coming back. I literally felt butterflies in my stomach. And then he won, took the microphone, and announced his resignation. No one expected this, not even his own people. They didn’t know it. People from his camp told me that he was going to call me.”
The undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov ended his career in October 2020 by successfully unifying the interim and reigning UFC lightweight titles against Justin Gaethje, who finished with a triangle choke in the second round.