Dana White: Diaz turned down Nurmagomedov, ‘Nobody wants to fight Khabib’

Undefeated Russian lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov (21-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) hasn’t fought since September, yet his next appearance is still undetermined. UFC President Dana White said there’s a simple reason for that: He can’t find anyone willing to face “The Eagle.”

“Nobody wants to fight Khabib,” White wrote on Twitter.

The 25-year-old Nurmagomedov made his UFC debut in 2012 and has since rattled off wins over Pat Healy, Abel Trujillo, Thiago Tavares, Gleison Tibau and Kamal Shalorus. A sambo and judo specialist, Nurmagomedov has registered 29 successful takedowns in his UFC career to date, according to FightMetric statistics.

He was initially linked to a fight with Gilbert Melendez at next month’s UFC 170 event, which takes place Feb. 22 at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Events Center. Despite the fight appearing on a UFC-produced poster to promote the event and later being announced on the “UFC Tonight” Twitter account, White quickly silenced that talk.

When that fight failed to come together, Nurmagomedov was then linked to a bout with perennial contender Nate Diaz. However, White said the Californian declined to accept the matchup.

“Nate turned the fight down,” White wrote on Twitter.

Diaz quickly took to the social media platform to post his own reply.

@danawhite @ufc are full of shit I didn’t turn down anything …

— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) January 12, 2014

Nurmagomedov is currently ranked No. 9 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA lightweight rankings.

For more on UFC 170, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Khabib Nurmagomedov)