After Khabib Nurmagomedov submitted Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, it meant much more than proving simply he's the best lightweight in the world.
On Oct. 24, 2020, and in the days and weeks afterward, Nurmagomedov was praised as not only the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world but also as the greatest of all time. But Nurmagomedov, agreeing to a request from his mother, laid his gloves in the center of the ring and retired.
In the same ring on Saturday, nearly two years to the day later, the torch, in Nurmagomedov’s view, was finally passed.