Major League Baseball star Josh Donaldson has labeled UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov “one of the most boring fighters in the world.”
Donaldson is currently plying his trade as the starting third baseman at Minnesota Twins. Before that he made a name for himself at the Toronto Blue Jays. While in Canada the 34-year-old UFC fan attended several big MMA events and even struck up a friendship with welterweight contender Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson.
In an interview with Ariel Helwani alongside Carlos Correa of the Houston Astros, Donaldson gave his honest opinion on the ongoing GOAT debate surrounding Khabib Nurmagomedov and Jon Jones, he said.
“If Jon Jones wanted to be a boring fighter, he would go and wrestle guys down and take them down and submit them if he wanted to.”
“I think Khabib is one of the most boring fighters in the world. I’m on record as saying right now he’s one of the most boring fighters. Because this is why — he is dominant on the ground. You win. I’m agreeing with you. He is the most dominant on-the-ground fighter in the world. But Khabib, although he’s touching Gaethje, he never hurt Gaethje on his feet. And when you’re talking about Gaethje and your talking about Ferguson, Tony Ferguson took a lot of punishment but they were on the feet. None of them were trying to threaten to the ground.” (Transcribed by BJPENN.com)
Nurmagomedov retired from MMA this past weekend after choking Justin Gaethje unconscious inside two rounds of their lightweight unification fight at UFC 254. Prior to that ‘The Eagle’ scored back-to-back high-profile submission wins over former dual weight UFC champion Conor McGregor and fan favourite Dustin Poirier. On Tuesday he was named the pound-for-pound number one fighter on the planet, displacing Jon Jones in the latest update of the official UFC rankings.
Do you agree with Josh Donaldson? Is Khabib Nurmagomedov a boring fighter?