Khabib Nurmagomedov told former opponent Justin Gaethje that he was suffering with "jet lag" during his final UFC win before retiring.
The Russian star retired two years ago as an undefeated 155lb champion after defeating Gaethje in the last fight of his UFC career in Abu Dhabi. Nurmagomedov made light work of his rival, picking up a second round submission, despite claims prior to the fight that the American could provide a stern examination of his credentials.
Gaethje had arrived at the 'Fight Island' venue just a single week before the event took place, which involved him completing his final media duties and weighing-in. And Nurmagomedov has suggested that his conquered rival was even talking to him about the exhaustion of his body during the UFC 254 contest.
"When I fought with Justin Gaethje, I was following when he was going to come here," Nurmagomedov said when summing up his final bout on the Wahed podcast. "He said he would come here Saturday and then fight next Saturday, I was like, 'No, next Saturday is going to be worse for him'. During the fight, I was talking to him and I told him, 'Brother, jet lag?', and he went, 'No, no jet lag'. But I knew he felt it."
Nurmagomedov recently flew out to Abu Dhabi with protege Islam Makhachev, who competed in his successful title challenge against Charles Oliveira at UFC 280. The pair jetted out with the Dagestani star's team several weeks before the fight to complete the latter stages of the preparations and acclimatise to their surroundings.
Oliveira followed a similar approach to Gaethje for his shot at the vacant title, which he also believes may have been a factor in his submission defeat. And Nurmagomedov's theory has been echoed by Bellator lightweight champion Patricky Pitbull, who believes Oliveira missed a trick by not arriving in the Middle East earlier.
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"I think that the time-zone difference affect Charles a little bit," Pitbull told SportsKeeda when asked about Nurmagomedov's theory in connection to Oliveira's recent loss. "He got there [Abu Dhabi] too close to the fight and didn't give himself enough time to adapt to it. As far as the technical aspects of the fight go, he was a little bit too passive.
"He didn't fight the way he had been fighting the last few fights. I think that he could have tried to escape the submission attempt but he didn't even try. I now think Islam is going to smash [Alexander] Volkanovski. He's a small guy. I believe the wrestling is gonna be the big difference on this fight. Islam can do striking, wrestling; everything, he can do it."