Fighters With Higher GOAT Status Than Khabib Nurmagomedov

Khabib “The Eagle” Nurmagomedov

First, we must look into the accomplishments of Nurmagomedov, and pay our respects. In no way is this article a dig at Nurmagomedov, “The Eagle” was simply phenomenal. He retired undefeated at the top of his game. That never happens at this level of this sport. With a record of 29-0, 13-0 UFC, Nurmagomedov was a one-time champ in the Lightweight division in the UFC, with three defenses. The Hall of Famer wasn’t a stranger to finishing fights either, with 19 total finishes, 11 coming by way of submission, and eight KO/TKO’s.

Other Accomplishments:

• Longest Lightweight Championship reign: 1,077 days
• Tied for third longest win streak in UFC History with Georges St. Pierre, Max Holloway, Jon Jones, and Demetrious Johnson
• Performance of the night three times: Edson Barboza, Dustin Poirier, and Justin Gaethje
• Most Takedowns in a single fight: Vs. Abel Trujillo, 21 of 28 attempts
• Tied for most lightweight division title defenses in UFC history (3) with Benson Henderson, Frankie Edgar, and B.J. Penn
• 2009 (74 kg) Gold Medalist in Russian Combat Sambo Championships
• 2009 (74kg) & 2010 (82 kg) Gold Medalist in World Combat Sambo Championships
• NAGA World Championship: 2012 Men’s No-Gi Expert Welterweight Champion and 2012 ADCC Rules No-Gi Expert Welterweight Champion

Now it’s time to dive into the fighters that have better resumes than Nurmagomedov.

(Note: This list is not in order of ranking but just based on being better than Nurmagomedov’s resume. The list of achievements doesn’t contain all but the majority to make the comparison.)

1. Georges St. Pierre

• 26-2 Record, 20-2 UFC
• UFC Hall of Fame Inductee
• One-time UFC Middleweight Champion
• Two-time UFC Welterweight Champion
• Longest UFC Welterweight Title reign: 2,064 days
• Nine UFC Welterweight Title Defenses
• Fight of the Night four times vs. Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, Carlos Condit, and Johny Hendricks
• Knockout of the Night one time vs. Matt Hughes
• Submission of the Night one time vs. Matt Hughes
• Performance of the Night one time vs. Michael Bisping
• Most UFC Welterweight title fights: 14
• Most wins in UFC Welterweight title fights: 12
• Second most wins in UFC title fights: 13
• Third most consecutive title defenses in UFC history: 9
• Fourth multi-divisional champion
• Most takedowns in UFC History: 90
• Most successful title defenses in UFC welterweight division: 9

2. Jon Jones

• 27-1(DQ)-1(N/C) Record, 21-1-1 UFC
• One-time UFC Heavyweight Champion
• Two-time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion
• Longest Light Heavyweight Title Reign: 1,501 days
• Eighth multi-divisional champion in UFC history
• Longest unbeaten streak in UFC history: 19
• Most consecutive UFC Light Heavyweight title defenses: 8
• Most successful title defenses in UFC Light Heavyweight division: 11
• Tied for most successful title defenses in UFC history: 11 with Demetrious Johnson
• Most wins in UFC title fights: 15
• Fourth most consecutive title defenses in UFC history: 8
• Fight of the Night four times vs. Rampage Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Alexander Gustafsson, and Daniel Cormier
• One-time Knockout of the Night vs. Brandon Vera
• Two-time Submission of the Night vs. Ryan Bader and Vitor Belfort
• Two-time Performance of the Night vs. Daniel Cormier and Ciryl Gane

3. Amanda Nunes

• 22-5 Record, 15-2 UFC
• Two-time UFC Women’s Bantamweight champion
• Five Bantamweight title defenses
• One-time UFC Women’s Featherweight champion
• Two Featherweight title defenses
• First woman in UFC history to win two titles and hold them simultaneously
• First fighter in UFC history to defend the titles in two divisions simultaneously
• Sixth multi-divisional champion in UFC history
• Fourth longest single UFC title reign of all time: 1,981
• Five-time Performance of the Night vs. Sara McMann, Miesha Tate, Ronda Rousey, Cris Cyborg, and Holly Holm

4. Anderson Silva

• 34-11-1 Record, 17-7-1 UFC
• UFC Middleweight Champion
• Ten Middleweight title defenses
• Fight of the Night five times vs. Dan Henderson, Forrest Griffin, Chael Sonnen, Michael Bisping, and Israel Adesanya
• Knockout of the Night seven times (Most in UFC History) vs. Chris Leben, Rich Franklin (2), Nate Marquardt, Forrest Griffin, Vitor Belfort, and Chael Sonnen
• Submission of the Night two times vs. Dan Henderson and Chael Sonnen
• Longest title reign in UFC history: 2,457 days
• Longest win streak in UFC history: 16
• Most UFC Middleweight title fights: 13
• Most wins in UFC Middleweight title fights: 11
• Most consecutive title defenses in UFC Middleweight history: 10
• Second most consecutive title defenses in UFC history: 10
• Most finishes in UFC title fights: 9
• Most knockouts in UFC title fights: 7

5. Demetrious Johnson

• 24-4-1 (Draw) Record, 15-2-1 UFC
• One-time ONE Flyweight Champion
• 2019 Flyweight World Grand Prix Champion
• One-time UFC Flyweight Champion
• Eleven UFC Flyweight title defenses
• Fight of the Night three times vs. Ian McCall, John Dodson, and Henry Cejudo
• Knockout of the Night one time vs. Joseph Benavidez
• Submission of the Night one time vs. John Moraga
• Performance of the Night four times vs. Kyoji Horiguchi, Henry Cejudo, Wilson Reis, and Ray Borg
• Most UFC Flyweight title fights: 13
• Most wins in UFC Flyweight title fights: 12
• Third most wins in UFC title fights: 12
• Most consecutive and successful title defenses in UFC history: 11

Who can forget this incredible moment against Ray Borg?

How Khabib Nurmagomedov Stacks Up Against the Competition

No doubt, Nurmagomedov’s best claim over those mentioned is the fact that he went undefeated throughout his career. The only issue with that is the level of opposition faced, Nurmagomedov’s opponents’ combined record through his first 16 fights before the UFC at the time he faced them was 63-46 for a 57% winning percentage, in comparison to someone like Jon Jones first 16 opponents at the time he faced them, it’s 156-36 for an 81% winning percentage. Not only that but “The Eagle” was facing a debuting fighter that was 0-0 in his fifteenth fight while Jones was submitting Rampage Jackson in his first title defense. Jon Jones captured the UFC Light Heavyweight title in his 14th fight and defended it two more times by the time he faced 16 opponents. A padded record before his UFC run, to say the least on the part of Nurmagomedov. See below, Nurmagomedov’s UFC opponents record.

What hurts Nurmagomedov is he only had three title defenses, no doubt the lightweight division was a murderer’s row at that time but “GSP” dealt with the same at welterweight and then some with the likes of Matt Hughes, B.J. Penn, Carlos Condit, Nick Diaz, Jake Shields, etc. Let’s even look at Adesanya, already a two-time champ, overcoming adversity, and has a consecutive five title defenses at middleweight and now he’s on his second run.

Not listed, Stipe Miocic, Fedor Emelianenko, Daniel Cormier, Israel Adesanya, Jose Aldo, Kamaru Usman, and Alexander Volkanovski have all had more successful careers than Nurmagomedov. The research, statistics, accolades, and degree of difficulty are all out there to prove so.

Khabib Nurmagomedov is an all-time great, just not the greatest of those mentioned. He did go undefeated but did he ever take extreme risks to face the level of adversity like those above? There is no shame in losing when challenging for another division’s title to chase greatness like Adesanya or Volkanovski did, sometimes taking the shot is better than never taking it at all, ask DC, GSP, Jones, and Nunes. For the other non-double champs, the consecutive title defenses, level of opponents, achievements, and bonuses show it all. An undefeated record no matter how dominant can only go so far when others lap you in achievements. As it stands there is an argument to be made that Nurmagomedov is the lightweight G.O.A.T., but overall across all divisions, no way.

So what do you think, where do you have Nurmagomedov and why? Let us know in the comments!

Featured Image Credit: Getty Images