Media Dustin Poirier says Khabib held up division and cost him title. Was Khabib worried about Conor being champion?

[markg171]

Where do you find this info that a fighter has write a formal letter to retire? Just a few weeks ago Dana said Jones called them to officially retire.

It was literally in the USADA policy, and still is under the new policy, that athletes need to inform the UFC in writing of their retirement:

All Athletes under contract (i.e., have executed a Promotional Agreement) with UFC, from the effective date of their contract
until such time as they give notice to UFC in writing of their retirement from competition (for the avoidance of doubt, if an Athlete
returns to UFC under the same or a new Promotional Agreement, this Anti-Doping Policy shall apply to such Athlete).

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/qq7i7mbfm462ynys98gqc/UFC_AntiDoping_Policy_English.pdf?rlkey=dm1tepd0aj9r36458zj168ocx&dl=1

It’s always been known that fighters need to inform the UFC in writing if they want to retire.

 

[Hotora86]

Despite attempted negotiations to bring him back for one more fight, UFC president Dana White announced on 19 March 2021 that he had accepted Nurmagomedov's decision to retire and that the UFC Lightweight Championship had been officially vacated.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khabib_Nurmagomedov#cite_note-118"><span>[</span>117<span>]</span></a>

So it was Dana stalling before he finally ACCEPTED the retirement.

 

[koa pomaikai]

Despite attempted negotiations to bring him back for one more fight, UFC president Dana White announced on 19 March 2021 that he had accepted Nurmagomedov's decision to retire and that the UFC Lightweight Championship had been officially vacated.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khabib_Nurmagomedov#cite_note-118"><span>[</span>117<span>]</span></a>

So it was Dana stalling before he finally ACCEPTED the retirement.

BS a boss doesn’t need to accept someone’s retirement. You retire, your boss has no say in it.

You trying to say Khabib can’t retire unless Dana says yes? Wtf

 

[balkanbomber85]

As it has always been with the Kabeebers, Kabeeb was the most influential MMA fighter in the UFC, he was not taking orders from Dana, he was giving Dana orders, making him his cuck. Moreover, Ali Abdelasleeze is the best manager in the game, he is telling Dana and the UFC what they have to do, he is holding the steering wheel, and so is Islame as well, he can do whatever the heck he wants because he is the best, he does whatever he wants.

This all applies until the moment when Kabeeb retires and then all of a sudden he was not allowed to for months, no, he was not, because it is so clear that a company can deny a written form for retirement, they are totally allowed to do so. He did not want all the attention of Dana, did not want to remain P4P for some time, no, he wanted to retire immediately and his management for sure contacted the UFC to have this settled legally. Or when Islame wanted to fight right after Ramadan, the UFC did not want that, the UFC only wants him to fight in Abu Daby in autumn and nothing more, I mean what power does Islame have to ask for a second fight, none, right? It is well known that the UFC wants their champs to fight only once a yesr.

 

[kuroro]

If Dustin and Conor had rematched for the belt there's a very high chance Poirier would have gotten KO'd there's a precedent.

conor was done by then

 

[usernamee]

Doostin got the hot sauce tho

 

[Hotora86]

BS a boss doesn’t need to accept someone’s retirement. You retire, your boss has no say in it.

You trying to say Khabib can’t retire unless Dana says yes? Wtf

Employers often try to delay or discourage a resignation of a valuable employee (by offering incentives to stay, counteroffers, delaying acceptance, guilt tripping etc). Happens in companies everywhere, in all businesses. Why do You think Dana wouldn't try that?

 

[biscuitsbrah]

They didn’t strip him in march either. He vacated in march.

GSP said he was done and immediately gave them back the belt, pissing Dana off.

Khabib is very attached to his belt, after Poirier beat Conor he said he thought Poirier should be champion. He waited until Poirier beat Conor, then immediately says Poirier should be champ, he knew if he vacated early, Mcgregor would get a shot and he hates Mcgregor.

Khabib says Poirier 'deserves to be a champion'

Khabib Nurmagomedov told Match TV that Dustin Poirier deserves to be the UFC's lightweight champion.

www.espn.com

Honestly, I think if Mcgregor beat Poirier, there’s a much better chance Khabib doesn’t retire, just to keep Mcgregor from the belt, I don’t think you understand just how much Khabib hates Mcgregor, it’s extremely personal.

He was holding that belt to see how Mcgregor v Poirier turns out.

That makes sense, but Khabibs dad died. That changes things. He literally made a promise to his mom to retire

 

[richardjohnson]

It was literally in the USADA policy, and still is under the new policy, that athletes need to inform the UFC in writing of their retirement:

All Athletes under contract (i.e., have executed a Promotional Agreement) with UFC, from the effective date of their contract
until such time as they give notice to UFC in writing of their retirement from competition (for the avoidance of doubt, if an Athlete
returns to UFC under the same or a new Promotional Agreement, this Anti-Doping Policy shall apply to such Athlete).

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/qq7i7mbfm462ynys98gqc/UFC_AntiDoping_Policy_English.pdf?rlkey=dm1tepd0aj9r36458zj168ocx&dl=1

It’s always been known that fighters need to inform the UFC in writing if they want to retire.

As far as I can tell that’s just the protocol for getting removed from the testing pool, which makes sense as it’s a separate entity and the fighters can be subject to a random drug test at anytime.

Like I said, just a few short weeks ago we had Dana saying that Jon called them to inform them that he was retired. Not “We got Jon’s formal retirement letter, he’s done.”

 

[BigOlJeet]

TS really says Khabib’s hate is unmatched lol one retired flawlessly and one fell into drugs and rape etc. who also hates anyone associated with Khabib, I’d say TS is retarded.

 

[richardjohnson]

BS a boss doesn’t need to accept someone’s retirement. You retire, your boss has no say in it.

You trying to say Khabib can’t retire unless Dana says yes? Wtf

As it has always been with the Kabeebers, Kabeeb was the most influential MMA fighter in the UFC, he was not taking orders from Dana, he was giving Dana orders, making him his cuck. Moreover, Ali Abdelasleeze is the best manager in the game, he is telling Dana and the UFC what they have to do, he is holding the steering wheel, and so is Islame as well, he can do whatever the heck he wants because he is the best, he does whatever he wants.

This all applies until the moment when Kabeeb retires and then all of a sudden he was not allowed to for months, no, he was not, because it is so clear that a company can deny a written form for retirement, they are totally allowed to do so. He did not want all the attention of Dana, did not want to remain P4P for some time, no, he wanted to retire immediately and his management for sure contacted the UFC to have this settled legally. Or when Islame wanted to fight right after Ramadan, the UFC did not want that, the UFC only wants him to fight in Abu Daby in autumn and nothing more, I mean what power does Islame have to ask for a second fight, none, right? It is well known that the UFC wants their champs to fight only once a yesr.

I don’t think anyone is saying that he wasn’t allowed to retire or that he needed Dana’s permission to. People are just pointing out that Dana wouldn’t accept his retirement and thought he could convince Khabib to come back. It was extremely obvious that was the case the entire time, I’m not sure why some are trying to rewrite history here.

 

[drphil]

Sure, but I mean did Dana have to strip Khabib, belts can be voluntarily vacated, Khabib held the belt, he didn’t vacate it until march 2021.

Dana didn’t end up doing anything, it just took 6 months for Khabib to give up the belt.

Mcgregor has something to do with it for sure in my eyes. Part of me thinks had Conor not been next up for the belt, he vacates immediately.

Khabib cares a lot about who becomes champion after him.

Khabib literally retired immediately after the gaethje fight because of his promise to his mother.

If it took till march to take the belt off him you know damn well that's because of dana desperately trying to convince him not to.
The people who "cost Dustin the belt" are the guys he lost to, nothing more nothing less.

 

[markg171]

Khabib literally retired immediately after the gaethje fight because of his promise to his mother.

If it took till march to take the belt off him you know damn well that's because of dana desperately trying to convince him not to.
The people who "cost Dustin the belt" are the guys he lost to, nothing more nothing less.

Employers often try to delay or discourage a resignation of a valuable employee (by offering incentives to stay, counteroffers, delaying acceptance, guilt tripping etc). Happens in companies everywhere, in all businesses. Why do You think Dana wouldn't try that?

Okay... but you guys do realize that if Dana was trying to convince Khabib to stay and it took until March until Khabib actually retired, vacated the belt, withdrew from USADA, etc., then it was working right? Otherwise all of that would've happened in October.

Like you realize that's this is Dustin's entire point right? Khabib not vacating the title in October made his fight with Conor remain a contender fight instead of a vacant title fight.

 

[koa pomaikai]

I don’t think anyone is saying that he wasn’t allowed to retire or that he needed Dana’s permission to. People are just pointing out that Dana wouldn’t accept his retirement and thought he could convince Khabib to come back. It was extremely obvious that was the case the entire time, I’m not sure why some are trying to rewrite history here.

So what exactly does “wouldn’t accept his retirement” mean?

It just means Dana wanted him to not retire, the choice was 100% for Khabib to make to retire whenever he wants. He retired on March 2021, not October 2020.

He held the belt to wait and see how Dustin and McGregor would turn out, he saw Dustin win, and then retired.

 

[Hotora86]

Okay... but you guys do realize that if Dana was trying to convince Khabib to stay and it took until March until Khabib actually retired, vacated the belt, withdrew from USADA, etc., then it was working right? Otherwise all of that would've happened in October.

Like you realize that's this is Dustin's entire point right? Khabib not vacating the title in October made his fight with Conor remain a contender fight instead of a vacant title fight.

It's still a weak point, considering how You're supposed to BEAT the champ to BE the champ and not nag the champ to vacate so that you can get sloppy seconds.

 

[markg171]

As far as I can tell that’s just the protocol for getting removed from the testing pool, which makes sense as it’s a separate entity and the fighters can be subject to a random drug test at anytime.

Like I said, just a few short weeks ago we had Dana saying that Jon called them to inform them that he was retired. Not “We got Jon’s formal retirement letter, he’s done.”

It literally says the fighter needs to inform the UFC in writing of retirement. THAT formal retirement would then of course withdraw you from the testing pool if you've ended your contract that requires it as a condition. It's pretty clear that you can't just "announce" a retirement, no more than you could any other profession.

Jon called Dana to say he was retired... and then also did the formal retirement steps over the next few days. We know this as it took a few days before he was withdrawn from the pool and rankings, indicating he had written his notice of retirement to the UFC as was required as well.

I know the default is to think fighters are dumb, but they do have managers for these kind of things who aren't.

 

[richardjohnson]

So what exactly does “wouldn’t accept his retirement” mean?

It just means Dana wanted him to not retire, the choice was 100% for Khabib to make to retire whenever he wants. He retired on March 2021, not October 2020.

He held the belt to wait and see how Dustin and McGregor would turn out, he saw Dustin win, and then retired.

Look at the first time stamp of this interview with Khabib from March 2021.



"Khabib says he retired several months ago despite Dana announcing it as official recently."

And if you actually watch the interview, he literally says he retired 5-6 months ago, it was always just Dana holding on to hope that he could get him to come back. He was like a child not taking no for an answer.

This isn't tough to understand lol

 

[richardjohnson]

It literally says the fighter needs to inform the UFC in writing of retirement. THAT formal retirement would then of course withdraw you from the testing pool if you've ended your contract that requires it as a condition. It's pretty clear that you can't just "announce" a retirement, no more than you could any other profession.

Jon called Dana to say he was retired... and then also did the formal retirement steps over the next few days. We know this as it took a few days before he was withdrawn from the pool and rankings, indicating he had written his notice of retirement to the UFC as was required as well.

I know the default is to think fighters are dumb, but they do have managers for these kind of things who aren't.

Let's assume for a second that you're right, even though you're only referencing the Anti Doping policy, is there any proof that Jon and/or his team sent one of these letters you speak of? And conversely, is there any proof that Khabib and/or his team didn't?

You seem to think these "letters" are the end all be all but the only proof you have that Khabib never sent one is because it took Dana months to finally accept that Khabib wasn't coming back. Confirmation bias is strong here.

 

[koa pomaikai]

Let's assume for a second that you're right, even though you're only referencing the Anti Doping policy, is there any proof that Jon and/or his team sent one of these letters you speak of? And conversely, is there any proof that Khabib and/or his team didn't?

You seem to think these "letters" are the end all be all but the only proof you have that Khabib never sent one is because it took Dana months to finally accept that Khabib wasn't coming back. Confirmation bias is strong here.

It is irrelevant whether or not Dana “accepts” anything.

Khabib doesn’t need Dana’s authorization to retire. Why are you so hung up on Dana accepting it.

 

[svmr_db]

I think Khabib didn’t vacate until after Poirier vs Mcgregor so he can deny Mcgregor the title (inadvertently denied Poirier)

Setting aside some of the other stuff people said about Khabib never walking back his retirement, the UFC made Poirier an offer to fight for the title after the second McGregor fight, he chose to fight McGregor for the trilogy fight instead.