Even though Khabib does acknowledge Charles Oliveira’s wins and undeniable skills, he does not think that he surpasses him, or even better, that Charles is on his level. He is sure that he is at the top of the list for UFC lightweight greats.
Oliveira is not the champion anymore. Regardless of his great win over Justin Gaethje. Before the fight at the weighting, he missed the weight by half a pound. As a result, he was dethroned immediately. Also, one really undeniable fact is that Charles Oliveira throughout his career has had his ups and downs. His professional record stands at a remarkable 33-8-0, he hasn’t lost a fight since 2018. However, he is not as ‘untouched’ and undisputed as Khabib.
Khabib Nurmagomedov Slams – You Can’t Compare Me To Oliveira, I’m Superior To Him
“He impressed me a little bit, but every fight he goes down. This one is a little bit bad for him. In every fight, he goes down a 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 says to ESPN and continues his rant.
“He tapped in UFC eight times (correction: three times). Please, come on. When he tapped to Jim Miller, Anthony Pettis, Holloway, Felder – it was Charles Oliveira. It was not Khabib. If you want to deserve the name greatest lightweight, he has to beat Islam Makhachev, Beneil Dariush, and a couple more guys, and then we can talk. He has to be a professional and make weight when he has a championship belt.”
Nevertheless, even though Nurmagomedov considers himself unmatchable and incomparable to Oliveira, he does respect his current win streak and ‘improvement’ in fighting style.
“What he’s doing, this is very impressive. How he came back from so many losses, and now he has good ground. That’s impressive. Now he has a good striking game. Knees, elbows, kicks, he has it all. And he looks good. The guy is in shape. That’s why I really want to see him vs. Islam. This is like a big test for both of them.”
The former champion has a plan for his prodigy. He sees him right at the top of the UFC rankings. And most probably he will see him. It is just a question of time. Islam does have an impressive professional record of 22-1-0 and is ready to follow in his teacher’s footsteps. Almost half of his fights end by submission and on top of that, he knows how to finish a fight with a KO once in a while.
Will we see him at the top? Will his ‘master’s’ plans come true?
