Khabib Nurmagomedov 's status as the greatest MMA fighter of all time has been questioned by former UFC champion Anthony Pettis.
Nurmagomedov, 33, is widely considered one of, if not the, greatest fighter to ever grace the sport after retiring with a record of 29-0. 'The Eagle' vacated his UFC lightweight title following his win over Justin Gaethje in 2020 having promised his mother he would not fight again after his father, Abdulmanap, passed away earlier that year.
Despite Nurmagomedov's dominance in the cage, one criticism of the former lightweight champion is that he retired too early. Nurmagomedov only defended his title three times, with other legendary fighters such as Anderson Silva and Jon Jones having over 10 defences to their names.
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Pettis, also a former UFC lightweight titleholder, thinks it's hard to call Nurmagomedov the greatest MMA fighter ever because of his lack of competition. “I moved down to 145lb, I fought at 170lb, I fought all over the place,” Pettis told LowKick MMA. “It’s hard to say Khabib [is the greatest] because he didn’t fight everybody. He won the world title fighting Al Iaquinta, who wasn’t even ranked at the time.
"He fought some good guys after that and then he retired, so it’s hard to say he’s the GOAT,” Pettis added. “He’s definitely one of the best, but guys like B.J. Penn that’s a guy for me that if he wouldn’t have came back and lost a couple of fights, we all would be talking about B.J. as the GOAT, one of the first."
Nurmagomedov won the vacant UFC lightweight title in 2018 against short-notice replacement Iaquinta. The Russian was originally scheduled to fight Tony Ferguson, but his longtime rival pulled out as Max Holloway filled in for 'El Cucuy' only for him to also withdrawn from the title clash. Nurmagomedov went on to defend his belt against Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier and Gaethje before retiring from the sport.
UFC boss Dana White desperately tried to entice Nurmagomedov for one more fight against bitter rival McGregor following their record-setting grudge match in 2018. Nurmagomedov now owns his own MMA promotion, Eagle FC, and will look to guide his protege Islam Makhachev to a lightweight title win at UFC 280 in October against recently-stripped champion Charles Oliveira.
