In the past, both Khabib Nurmagomedov and Georges St-Pierre have expressed their desire to fight one another inside the octagon. These days, most bouts between fighters end up being personal; however, the match-up between Nurmagomedov and St-Pierre was based on the mutual respect both men have for one another.
Ultimately, the decision came down to the UFC President himself and White stated previously to TSN that based off broken promises, he had no desire to book the super fight between the two athletes:
“Well there’s two things — first of all, who doesn’t love Georges St-Pierre? Love Georges St-Pierre, the best ever as far as human beings, great guy, love him. Georges St-Pierre and I had a deal, he was going to fight [Michael] Bisping at 185 pounds and if he won, he would defend the title. He bailed on that. Didn’t do it, So you can’t just come out and hand pick fights that you want for titles.”
Speaking with ESPN, the 38-year-old talks about why the fight never happened and he completely understands why the UFC decided against booking the match-up:
“I know Khabib wanted to have that fight, I want it, but the thing is, if you look from the UFC’s side, I think it’s normal if I put myself in their shoes,” St-Pierre said. “They didn’t want to take the risk of me winning the title and then after vacating again. I didn’t even want it for the title, I would rather do it not for a title. For me, it was because I considered Khabib, right now, the best fighter in the world, and he wanted to fight me as well so I thought it was a good fan fight.”
Nurmagomedov would ultimately go on to face Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier for the Lightweight title and St-Pierre views it as a compliment that the company doesn’t want to book him against the undefeated champion:
“They had other plans for Khabib and I understand that,” said St-Pierre. “They had a lot to lose and if they invest into that fight and their investment goes out after, it’s not a good move. In a way, I could take that as a compliment because maybe they saw me as a threat for them. That means maybe they thought I could win the fight. If they let me fight him, it’s because they think I would have lost. So that’s why.”