Khabib se trebao suočiti sa Tonyem Fergusonom na UFC209, međutim on nije uspeo da prođe vagu tada i na kraju je završio u bolnici zbog skidanja kilograma uoči te borbe i ta borba se otkazala. 

Mnogi MMA fanovi su se razočarali u Khabiba tada i smatrali ga neprofesionalnim, ova borba je trebala da bude odlučujuća ko će da bude sledeći izazivač za pojas u lakoj kategoriji.

Khabib se sada oglasio i dao izjavu kad bi on da se vrati u oktagon, izjava Khabiba za “RT”:

“I know that a lot of fans are upset with me about this and I agree with this guys. Because this is one of the biggest fights in Russian MMA. For me, I can make history but I am going to the hospital you know.

But sometimes this happens, sometimes you can die, you know. Everybody can die, everybody can (get) sick. Now I need a couple of months. Like two or three months. After three months I come for hard training and I want to fight in September.”