Khabib Signs Huge New UFC Deal With GSP Clause In Contract
Tuesday was a good day for Khabib Nurmagomedov. His UFC lightweight unification bout with the interim champion Dustin Poirier, was finally officially confirmed by the UFC, and he signed a new lucrative deal with the promotion.
Although Khabib’s father Abdulmanap this week threw a little bit of doubt on the fight with Poirier, by saying that his son was training for the possibility of fight him, Tony Ferguson or Conor McGregor at UFC 242, it was still expected that it would be ‘The Diamond’ standing across the Octagon from Khabib at UFC 242.
With only one fight left on his contract, not only did Khabib sign the contract to fight Poirier, he also signed a huge new deal with the UFC at the same time. And as his manager Ali Abdelaziz told MMA Fighting, they are very happy with the new deal, which will see ‘The Eagle’ become the highest paid athlete in the UFC.
“We’re extremely happy. We’re well taken care of. We can’t ask for any better. We very grateful. Easiest negotiation I ever did. It was fair, straight to the point. This is one of the biggest deals in UFC history. I don’t care Conor [McGregor], I don’t care this is one of the biggest guaranteed money [contracts] in UFC history. When you do this kind of deal, people normally burn bridges. The bridges only got stronger, that’s all I’m going to say.
“The UFC stepped up. They give us what we want and they made a good business decision on their behalf and they made us a partner. We are all partners. We are in it together on this.”
And Abdelaziz believes that his man is thoroughly deserving of being the highest paid athlete in the promotion.
“My opinion right now, Khabib is the pound-for-pound greatest fighter we’ve ever seen. He never lost. He’s never been caught. He’s never been dropped. He’s dominated every round against almost every opponent. No [performance-enhancing drugs], nothing.
“This is why he’s the highest-paid athlete in the UFC today. Believe me. He’s the highest-paid athlete in the UFC today. And I’m saying that again because I see everything. They showed me everything. Khabib is the highest-paid athlete in the UFC and we are happy. It’s time to fight.”
UFC 242 goes down on September 7th in Abu Dhabi and Abdelaziz has called it a home coming, for Khabib to fight in front of his Muslim fans.
“The is like a prince getting to show off all of his skills in front of his own people. This is coming home. This is the people who have been supporting him, the whole entire Middle East, the whole north of Africa, 1.5 billion Muslims and the UFC did the right decision. They know he is the biggest draw right now in the Muslim world and Dana White an entrepreneur. Dana White is the biggest promoter in combat [sports] history. This is who he is and he made a very good business decision.
“They kept their word. They got Abubakar [Nurmagomedov] and Zubaira [Tukhugov] a fight on the same card as Khabib. They re-signed Zubaira to the UFC. Everything they said, they delivered. We have to deliver, too, that’s it.”
And if the new contract and fighting in front of his home fans wasn’t enough for Team Khabib to be happy about, Khabib’s father Abdulmanap will also be back in his son’s corner in Abu Dhabi. Due to visa issues, Abdulmanap has been unable to corner any of Khabib’s fights in the US.
“One of the most important things for Khabib is his father will be in his corner. This is worth so much more than a lot of money. Money is important but his father being able to corner him, this is something worth so much more.”
Abdelaziz also told ESPN that Khabib’s new contract has a clause in it, should he fight Georges St-Pierre. GSP retired from the sport in February. Although both Khabib and GSP have expressed their desire to fight each other.
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