Khabib Nurmagomedov’s career is one very interesting story. While it’s undeniable that Nurmagomedov went out on top – it’s highly questionable how he would’ve fared against elite competition earlier in his career.
Nurmagomedov had made it into the UFC in 2012. But due to the injuries he’s suffered and the devout Muslim fasting schedule he never did more than 3 bouts in a single year. Not to mention he was very shaky to begin with.
Nurmagomedov greatly struggled against Gleison Tibau – in his 2nd bout in the promotion and it’s widely believed that Tibau was robbed in this outing.
Recently Nurmagomedov made shady comments towards Charles Oliveira who had been with the UFC for as long as Nurmagomedov.
Nurmagomedov told ESPN. “This one is a little bit bad for him. Every fight he goes down, couple of times. Last fight, it was like, how many? Two, three times knockdowns?”
“With Michael Chandler, with Dustin Poirier, with Justin Gaethje, he always goes down. This is like a little bit questionable, you know. Nobody ever touched my face, and all the time he go down. People cannot talk about like compare me vs. Charles Oliveira.”
Nurmagomedov ‘grew up’ fighting aspiring fighters as opposed to professional ones. The combined record of his pre UFC opponents leaves much to be desired.
And at the same time, Oliveira was duking it out with veterans of the sport. He’s had clashes with Darren Elkins, Jim Miller, Cub Swanson, Frankie Edgar, Clay Guida, jeremy Stephens, Ricardo Lamas, Anthony Pettis and more.
It could even be argued that Oliveira faced many of them during their prime.
Now at 32, Oliveira is riding a great winning streak having won against Gaethje, Poirier, Chandler, Ferguson and Kevin Lee.