UFC: UFC 294: Khabib Nurmagomedov wants Islam Makhachev to be better than he ever was

May 2024 ยท 2 minute read

In the realm of the best to ever do it in UFC, Khabib Nurmagomedov is definitely part of the conversation but he is now retired. There are many great fighters from Dagestan who are dominating the sport right now and Islam Makhachev is part of that group. In fact, the UFC 294 event in Abu Dhabi has many great fighters from that country who are having their time to shine in just a few hours. The main event has Islam Makhachev defending his Lightweight title against Alexander Volkanovski, who took the fight with 11 days of short notice. Khabibi Nurmagomedov is now Islam's coach but we love doing comparisons between the two of them.

Who is better between Islam and Khabib?

At 29-0, Khabib Nurmagomedov literally retired because there was simply no better fighter in the division and he got a little bored. Also, he swore to retire after fighting Justin Gaethje and his father passed away. The goal for Khabib was to train fighters as his father did and turn them into champions. Islam is the first of a long line of disciples he is training and he is already a champion. But the entire world has been clamoring for Khabib to return, something that may never happen. As we wait for Islam Makhachev to get inside that octagon again, manager Ali Abdelaziz was asked who is the better fighter between the two of them. We might never know who is bettern between the two of them but Khabib was certainly the most dominant.

In a recent interview with TMZ Sport, Abdelaziz said: "Khabib wants Islam to be better. That's what's beautiful about it. Islam lost, Khabib never lost. Islan might be all the way technically better, but dominance, I don't think anybody can be as dominant as Khabib is. You see Henry lose, Kamaru. A lot of guys lost. Khabib never even have one blood leave his body. When you have a guy who never bled in 29 fights, it's very hard to match him. It's a very tall order to match him. It's almost impossible. The guy who is closer to Khabib than anybody is Umar. I truly believe Umar is the closest to Khabib's dominance."

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