Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping believes that the lightweight GOAT argument could be settled very soon. Many commentators feel that former UFC champ Khabib Nurmagomedov deserves the title, as he retired with an unblemished 29-0 record, but Bisping argued that, when Charles Oliveira takes to the Octagon at UFC 280 to face Khabib’s protege in Islam Makhachev, he could earn the accolade. Bisping made the case for Oliveira on his YouTube channel.
“Greatest lightweight of all time? I think if Charles beats Islam this weekend, I think that belongs to Charles now. I really do. I think he will have surpassed him, simply because he’s taken out all the top contenders. And it’s not Khabib’s fault, but you cannot deny the numbers, the momentum, the history that Oliveira’s making.”
Bisping: UFC 280 Win Would Make Oliveira the Lightweight GOAT
Bisping continued, outlining the “case for Khabib”: “Here’s the case for Khabib: his record, 29-0, 13-0 in the UFC, and he was one of the most dominant fighters that the UFC had ever seen.
In 60 career rounds, this man only lost two rounds. Round one against Justin Gaethje — very, very close — and round three against Conor McGregor — again, very, very close.”
However, Bisping argued that Khabib’s retirement following the Gaethje fight is exactly what calls his status into question. Khabib retired after the death of his father, vacating the UFC lightweight title and leaving the question unanswered. “Listen, we never saw him lose to anyone, and he was so dominant it’s hard to imagine him losing to anyone.
All we ever saw was him win and dominate people. But he retired at 32 years old, after three title defenses and two and a half years as champion of the world. That’s fantastic but if he had stuck around longer would we have seen him lose the belt? Would we have seen him get challenged? We’ll never know, and that is one of the real arguments for Khabib not being the pound-for-pound No. 1.
The reality is, the reason we ask the question, is because he didn’t stick around long enough. And we know why, it was a very honorable reason. but would he have beaten all these top new contenders? He’d have beaten some of them, but would he have beaten Charles? We don’t know. We can only imagine.”
Is Michael Bisping right about Khabib’s legacy? Can Charles Oliveira eclipse Khabib by taking out Islam Makhachev at UFC 280? Let us know in the comments.
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