Khabib Nurmagomedov unified the lightweight championship at UFC 254 with a dominating perforance vs. Justin Gaethje, and retired, to focus on his family, including his mother, who was widowed with the death in July of his father Abdulmanap due to complications from COVID-19.

At the post-fight press conference UFC president Dana White revealed that The Eagle overcame even more than the loss of his coach/father.

We’re all lucky that we got to see him fight tonight, said White said. Apparently he broke his foot. Yeah, three weeks ago. So he has two broken toes and a bone in his foot that’s broken, or something like that. That’s what his corner was telling me. Never told anybody, walking around. He is one of the toughest human beings on the planet.

https://twitter.com/btsportufc/status/1320112043907842050

Further, Nurmagomedov’s coach told Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole that in mid-September Khabib missed two weeks of camp due to the mumps.

https://twitter.com/KevinI/status/1320122895633248256

And lastly, as the youngest son, following practices in his native Dagestan, Khabib lived with his wife and children in his parents’ home, with the aim of supporting them in their retirement. With the death of his father, Khabib became head of household, and the time away from family was a tremendous burden. As the UFC boss put it aptly, We’re all lucky that we got to see him fight tonight.

Combat sports are littered with the faded minds and broken bodies of champions of held on too long. Khabib Nurmagomedov’s retirement is a cause for celebration. He retires, without a loss, as the lightweight GOAT, and the P4P best fighter in the sport. At to whether he is the GOAT, no matter the fighter, that will always be a matter of speculation. But that Nurmagomedov goes out a winner, that’s undisputed.

Ht/ Jack Baer for Yahoo Sports