In the lead up to UFC 254, my feeling was that Khabib Nurmagomedov would not lose to Justin Gaethje. My gut told me Nurmagomedov would feel a loss would dishonor his father and mentor, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, who died in July from COVID-19 complications. However, I did not think Nurmagomedov would have an easy go of things. I believed Gaethje would pose a big problem for the lightweight champion. He did not.
Nurmagomedov looked inspired against Gaethje. He was more aggressive than I can remember ever seeing him. He was unrelenting in his attack. It felt like Nurmagomedov had something to prove.