Fighter-turned-promoter: Khabib Nurmagomedov BUYS MMA promotion Gorilla Fighting Championship for $1 MILLION - report

UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has made his first major move to continue his association with MMA after his retirement by buying Russian MMA promotion Gorilla Fighting Championship, according to reports.

The promotion, better known as GFC, operates out of Khabib's native Dagestan, and last staged an event, GFC 29, on October 16, with two more shows set to take place on Dec. 4 and 19 to round out its 2020 schedule.

But now, according to Russian journalist Azamat Bostanov, Khabib has purchased the GFC promotion, which will be renamed Eagle Fighting Championship (EFC). The purchase price? $1 million.

According to Bostanov, the promotion will not just undergo a name change, it will also operate differently to before, with the organization targeting additional events outside of Russia, with Arabian territories and, potentially the United States, on the list of possible host countries.

The news may shed some light on the "something interesting" Khabib plans to discuss with UFC president Dana White, with a partnership with the UFC to have the newly-branded EFC shows streamed worldwide on UFC Fight Pass a distinct possibility.

Details of the deal are expected to be confirmed at Khabib's Dec. 2 press conference in Moscow.