When Khabib Nurmagomedov retired from the UFC in 2020, it got here as an enormous shock to the fanbase.
Khabib Nurmagomedov is widely considered essentially the most dominant champion in UFC history, but receives plenty of criticism for retiring at the height of his powers in 2020.
In his final outing in the game, ‘The Eagle’ defended his lightweight title against Justin Gaethje in a title unification fight after Gaethje beat Tony Ferguson earlier that 12 months for the interim title.
Going into the fight, ‘The Highlight’ was being widely touted as Khabib’s hardest test so far due to his wrestling background, however the Russian once more showed his dominance, submitting Gaethje within the second round.
Gaethje’s surprise response to checking out he was Khabib’s strongest opponent
Khabib looked relatively flawless throughout his entire UFC profession, along with his only questionable fight having been against Gleison Tibau, which Joe Rogan believes he lost.
And despite having just about ran through ‘The Highlight’, he credited Gaethje as essentially the most powerful opponent of his profession.
“He hit like a truck. No person hit me harder than Justin Gaethje, his kick, his punch, his left hook, his right hook, right uppercut,” Khabib said on an episode of Hotboxin with Mike Tyson.
Gaethje is widely considered some of the powerful lightweight fighters of all time, and has been involved in some classic fights throughout his UFC tenure.
Despite being labeled as Khabib’s strongest opponent, the 36-year-old ultimately wasn’t too bothered because it doesn’t change the results of the fight.
“I hit him really hard, I hit him really hard,” Gaethje recently said in a video on his social media.
“I kicked him really hard after which hit him with a very good right hand. Hearing Khabib say I hit him the toughest doesn’t feel that good because he still beat me. I still didn’t win the championship so, I mean it’s, yeah I don’t know, it’s cool,” Gaethje continued.
Will Justin Gaethje fight for the UFC lightweight title next?
Earlier this 12 months, ‘The Highlight’ offered the UFC an ultimatum that if he isn’t given the following lightweight title shot, he’ll retire from the game.
Gaethje’s words didn’t sit well with UFC boss Dana White who went on to induce Gaethje to retire, calling his ultimatum ‘whacky’.
Nevertheless, since then, there haven’t been any advancements with regard to the following lightweight title fight but White did recently tease that Ilia Topuria will likely defend his title on the primary UFC event on Paramount.
At this point, it continues to be unclear whether his opponent will probably be Gaethje or potentially British contender, Paddy Pimblett, who Topuria has a longstanding feud with.