Khabib Nurmagomedov is a legend of the sport. (imago Images)
Charles Oliveira and Khabib Nurmagomedov have both defeated Dustin Poirier in UFC title fights
Colby Covington is no stranger to controversial statements and the UFC Welterweight shed light on another hot top.
Chaos spoke about the legend of Khabib Nurmagomedov. The Russian was undefeated in his MMA career and retired after defeating Justin Gaethje.
The Lightweight is considered as one of the greatest if not the greatest MMA fighter but Chaos doesn’t think that is true.
One of Khabib’s victims was Dustin Poirier. The Diamond lost out to Khabib at UFC 242 and he was again on the end of a defeat at UFC 269.
This time, it was Charles Oliveira who got the win. Chaos brought this up and told (BJ Penn):
“It definitely kinda de-legitimises his [Khabib] legacy. He never really fought a high, high-level wrestler that could challenge him, that was good, in both areas of striking and wrestling, and submissions and defensive wrestling. So, you know, there’s always been doubts about Khabib’s legacy. He had an interesting route and he took some time off in-between his career. He got good matchups, you know, people that didn’t know how to wrestle. Even, a lot of people thought that he lost to a guy I used to train with all the time, Tibau, Gleison Tibau. He won a split decision over him but a lot of people thought he lost that fight.”
Covington continued taking a shot at Khabib’s legacy:
“I definitely think that kinda puts a dampener into Khabib’s legacy. That guy’s (Poirier) going out there and getting submitted just like you did to him; the same exact way. So how would that matchup go with him and the Brazilian?”
The facts remain that Khabib went undefeated in his career. He is a great role model outside of the Octagon and has helped countless people in his home town.
However digging deeper into his record, Khabib only has three title defences to his name. Jon Jones, another in the GOAT discussion, has had 11 successful title defences while Georges St-Pierre had nine to his name.
There are also doubts over the calibre of stars Khabib defeated. While Khabib did get the better of Conor McGregor, Poirier and Gaethje, Oliveira has defeated Michael Chandler, Tony Ferguson, Kevin Lee and Poirier.
The debate over the GOAT of MMA will rage on till the sport survives. Khabib is one of the greatest ever, there is no doubting that, but there will be others who usurp all that the Russian has achieved.
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