UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has his next fight booked and a lucrative new multi-fight contract to go along with it.
On Tuesday, the UFC announced that Nurmagomedov would face interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier in a title unification bout on Sept. 7 at UFC 242 from Abu Dhabi.
The fight was signed along with a new contract as the undefeated Russian only had one bout left on his old deal with the UFC.
“We’re extremely happy,” Nurmagomedov’s manager Ali Abdel-Aziz said about the new contract when speaking to MMAFighting on Tuesday. “We’re well taken care of. We can’t ask for any better. We very grateful. Easiest negotiation I ever did. It was fair, straight to the point. This is one of the biggest deals in UFC history. I don’t care Conor [McGregor], I don’t care this is one of the biggest guaranteed money [contracts] in UFC history. When you do this kind of deal, people normally burn bridges. The bridges only got stronger, that’s all I’m going to say.
“The UFC stepped up. They give us what we want and they made a good business decision on their behalf and they made us a partner. We are all partners. We are in it together on this.
Manager: Khabib Nurmagomedov is now ‘highest-paid athlete in the UFC’ after new deal