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“Nobody makes it look as easy as Khabib Nurmagomedov, and I do believe he is going to retire undefeated.”
There’s no denying Khabib Nurmagomedov’s talent and accomplishments, but is he the most dominant MMA fighter ever?
Former UFC two-division champion Daniel Cormier seems to think so, as the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) staple believes ‘The Eagle’ will retire with an undefeated record and be crowned UFC GOAT with a couple more title defenses to his name.
“He’s a very, very difficult matchup for Khabib but that being said, I believe Khabib Nurmagomedov is the most dominant fighter MMA has ever seen,” Cormier told Mike Swick in a recent podcast (h/t Abhinav Kini of The Body Lock MMA). “Nobody makes it look as easy as Khabib Nurmagomedov, and I do believe he is going to retire undefeated. And I believe he’s going to retire undefeated sooner than later because when you get to 28, 29-0 — no hiccups, man, like he made no mistakes. Won 28 straight fights, 12-0 in the UFC.
“I just think he’s the most dominant fighter the UFC’s ever seen and I don’t think we’re going to see anything like him again whenever he walks away from the sport.”
Cormier, the former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champ, has a close working relationship with Khabib at AKA and says the undefeated Dagestani is one of the strongest fighters he’s ever trained with.
“Look at Dustin Poirier, how good he looked against Dan Hooker, and look at what Khabib did to him,” Cormier said. “Dustin went between rounds and said, ‘I can’t get him off me.’ This is Dustin Poirier who is one of the bigger lightweights in the entire world.
“He’s just a beast man. You felt it, I felt it — when I grab a guy that fights at 155 and I go, ‘man, he feels strong,’ it’s crazy. That should not happen. He should not feel strong to me whenever I grab him, but he is.”
Khabib will meet Justin Gaethje in a headlining lightweight title unification bout at UFC 254. The pay-per-view extravaganza is scheduled to take place later this year, Oct. 24, at a TBD location.