“When I was growing up, I had three favorite fighters,” says the Russian in a video posted to his social media. “I was 16 years old, and they were just at their peak. They were Fedor, Mauricio “Shogun” Hua and Georges St-Pierre. These guys were in their prime, PRIDE and UFC champions, and I grew up with their fights. When I first met each of them, it was very emotional for me, because I grew up on their fights.
41-year-old Georges St-Pierre officially announced his retirement in February 2019, while 41-year-old Mauricio Hua and 46-year-old Fedor Emelianenko fought farewell fights this year, suffering devastating defeats in the first rounds.
As for 34-year-old Khabib Nurmagomedov, he retired in October 2020 after successfully unifying the interim and current UFC lightweight titles against American Justin Gaethje.