After Khabib’s title defense against Justin Gaethje, the Dagestani Fighter decided to retire from the sport for good. That means the lightweight crown will be vacant and up for grabs. The lightweight division is currently stacked with a lot of talented fighters.
Khabib has wins over three of the current top five contenders, so he pretty much cleaned the division. All those wins ended via stoppage, where his opponents had no answer in his high-level grappler. After his last fight, he just asked one more thing which was to put his name as the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC which was granted.
A few months later, Khabib answered an interview regarding the situation of the UFC lightweight division. He thinks that he will get removed from the rankings and that the fight of Mcgregor vs Poirier will be for the vacant belt. He basically gave his blessing for the fight.
Nine days until a Notorious return… 🇮🇪
[ #UFC257 | #InAbuDhabi | @VisitAbuDhabi ] pic.twitter.com/7wVXyYoXzo
— UFC (@ufc) January 14, 2021
Now after some speculations that the UFC might actually give the title shot, Dana White confirmed all the rumors that the fight will not be for the title. He still thinks that he could convince Khabib with an offer that could make him return inside the Octagon for the 30-0 record.
UFC is also wise with the move since in case Mcgregor wins and becomes the champion, there is a possibility that he will not defend his belt again and fight Manny Pacquiao in a boxing match. It will halt the lightweight division once more and the top contenders will wait for him to return. Conor Mcgregor won two division belts but never defended once but was stripped.
If Dustin Poirier wins, then a potential fight with Charles Oliveira or Justin Gaethje could be in the making. Another contender that is about to make his debut is Michael Chandler which Dana White has taken an interest in.
Either way, after the fight he would make his decision more clear whether he wants to compete in the UFC lightweight division or fight Pacquiao. The UFC will have a better decision if they don’t grant a title shot right away.
In an interview with Pacquiao, he said that he wants Mcgregor as his next opponent if he has an option he can choose. He plans to fight twice for 2021.
