"Because he got $50-$60 million" - Henry Cejudo discusses Khabib Nurmagomedov's retirement and why he won't come back to UFC

Despite retiring nearly four years ago, Khabib Nurmagomedov remains ever-popular in the MMA space. Thus, it comes as no surprise that the 'The Eagle' was a topic of conversation for Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman on their new podcast Pound 4 Pound with Kamaru & Henry.

While neither man is a close friend of Nurmagomedov or training partners of his, they're both managed by Ali Abdelaziz, who also manages 'The Eagle' under his Dominance MMA stable of fighters, where all three fighters are acquainted.

So, as Cejudo spoke on his first retirement, he then touched on why he feels Nurmagomedov will never make a comeback.

"I never really retired the first time because of money. I retired because I f***ing loved the résumé that I was carrying, and it was too precious. Why do you think even a guy like Khabib has retired? Now, Khabib has every right to, you know why? Because he's got $50-$60 million dollars in the bank, you know what I'm saying? If I was Khabib too, I'd keep that precious 30–0 or 29–0, whatever, and just let people talk."

Check out Henry Cejudo offer his thoughts on Khabib Nurmagomedov's retirement (3:45):

While Nurmagomedov's record of 29 wins and no losses is unprecedented, there is a key difference between it and Cejudo's. The strength of Nurmagomedov's legacy is largely because he retired undefeated. He barely ever lost a round and always dominated his opponents.

Meanwhile, the strength of Cejudo's legacy is based more on his success in becoming a two-division champion and defeating two divisions' respective all-time great fighters Demetrious Johnson and Dominick Cruz.

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Khabib Nurmagomedov defeated four UFC champions during his run

Khabib Nurmagomedov is often criticized for not having done enough to cement himself as the greatest fighter ever truly. He retired young and didn't rack up an absurd number of title defenses. He did, however, equal the lightweight division's record of three title defenses, and he has also beaten four UFC champions.

Prior to winning the title, he dominated future lightweight kingpin Rafael dos Anjos, before going on a career-best run years later, submitting former undisputed two-division champion Conor McGregor and former interim lightweight champions Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje.