Ali Abdelaziz, Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s long time manager, believes Nurmagomedov is better than Jon Jones inside and outside the cage.
Abdelaziz is very outspoken about his clients and their abilities. Just the other week Abdelaziz claimed that his client, welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, would defeat any of the top three light heavyweights. Including new champion Jiri Prochazka, and former champions Glover Teixeira and Jan Blachowicz. Usman would have to jump up two weight classes to defeat those guys, leaving fight fans to doubt Abdelaziz’s claims.
Now, Ali Abdelaziz is claiming that Jones couldn’t even “tie the shoes” of Nurmagomedov.
“Khabib never had any action with USADA, none of the stuff,” he said. “Of course, Jon Jones is a great fighter, but he cannot tie the shoes of Khabib. I don’t think he can. He’s great, but I think Khabib is on a different level. He’s loved by many. I don’t think Jon Jones is a bad person, but I just don’t think all his career, he doesn’t have the right set, the right people to take care of him, to teach him wrong from right. If you gave me what Jon Jones had at 21, I’d probably walk naked in the street.” (Transcribed by MiddleEasy)
Jones has had many run ins with both the law, and USADA over the years. The latest was the domestic that Las Vegas cops were called too between him and his long time fiancé back in 2021. This led to Jones being arrested once again, and in the video he was clearly very intoxicated.
Abdelaziz also thinks ‘The Eagle‘ was far more dominant than Jones as well.
“Man, Jon Jones… When I talk about the good, the good means inside the cage, outside the cage. Khabib never had a close fight. You look at Jon Jones, the last three fights were very close fights. Khabib never had even a close fight,” he said in an interview with Sherdog.com. “Dominance, Khabib is better, undefeated. In many (areas) Khabib is better. Outside the cage, Khabib is better.”
The debate on who the “MMA GOAT” is a very subjective topic, when it comes to comparing fighters from different weight classes that have never fought against each other, or even fighters from different eras. It’s a discussion fans and media will have until the end of time. In all fairness, whether you say Silva, Nurmagomedov, Jones, or St-Pierre, you have a legitimate case to make for it.