“Khabib will not take part in this event,” Nurmagomedov’s agent, Rizvan Magomedov, told Russian news agency TASS.

Earlier this month, the Dagestan-native lost his father, Abdulmanap, who had been placed in a medically-induced coma in May after contracting coronavirus following heart surgery.

Speaking to ESPN in May after his father was diagnosed with coronavirus, Nurmagomedov explained the virus has spread rapidly among his family.

“In my personal case, I’ve had more than 20 people sick from my family,” he said. “More than 20 people were lying in the intensive care units. And many of them are no longer among us. Many acquaintances have died, many parents of my relatives. Everybody is having a hard time dealing with it.”

Earlier in May, Nurmagomedov, who has a 28-0 record in UFC, was forced to pull out of fighting Tony Ferguson in UFC 249 because of travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The bout was originally scheduled in New York, before it was moved to Abu Dhabi as the pandemic hit the U.S.

However, when Nurmagomedov flew into the Emirate from Russia, he was refused entry, due to the latter’s surging number of coronavirus cases.

Gaethje stepped in to replace Nurmagomedov and defeated Ferguson, to claim the interim title.

Meanwhile, UFC president Dana White suggested Nurmagomedov will headline a major fight in Abu Dhabi in October.

“Khabib will be the next,” he explained during an interview with The National, Abu Dhabi’s English-speaking newspaper, earlier this week.

“He’s going to fight when he calls me Khabib’s dad just died. When he’s ready, he’ll let me know.”

The UFC boss also expanded on his plans to replace Las Vegas as the main destination for UFC bouts.

“We’re talking about [middleweight champion] Israel Adesanya versus Paulo Costa, that fight happening.

“[Women’s strawweight champion] Weili Zhang versus Rose Namajunas is a possibility.

“All the massive, big fights with literally the champion versus the No. 1 contender are all looking like Fight Island Abu Dhabi.”

White first floated the concept of a “Fight Island” in May, indicating he wanted to find a location which would allow the sport to hold fights during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

White and UFC eventually settled for Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island, which hosted UFC 242 in September last year and has hosted the Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix since 2009.