Dana White says Khabib Nurmagomedov is ‘a couple fights away from potential GOAT status’
Khabib Nurmagomedov is 28-0 and coming off of a title defense against Dustin Poirier at UFC 242. It was his second time defending his lightweight title and did so in dominating fashion like always.
However, even though he is undefeated at 28-0, many still don’t think he is the greatest of all-time (GOAT). But, according to UFC president, Dana White, he is slowly closing in on that.
“(He’s) pretty special, man,” White said after UFC 242. “I think he’s a couple [of] fights away from potential GOAT status. To go undefeated for this long, for this many fights, especially in a division that’s that stacked, he’s looking down the barrel of a pretty special career.”
For Dana White, he knows Khabib Nurmagomedov is something special and was very impressed with his UFC 242 performance. He also had to deal with adversity as it appeared Dutsin Poirier was close to submitting Nurmagomedov with a guillotine choke, before the Russian champion got out of it.
“He looked unbelievable,” White said. “Incredibly dominant, even though there was some drama in there when he was caught in that guillotine. A lot of people don’t get out of that thing. Khabib is so good he got out. Dustin had that thing in deep. Most people would have tapped and went to sleep to that guillotine. Props on him for getting out of that, too. He looked completely dominant tonight.”
In the end, Khabib Nurmagomedov did what he always does and that is win. Now, the hope for many is he can fight with Tony Ferguson next, who many believe is the person who can hand the Russian his first loss. But, if Khabib Nurmagomedov can win that fight, and add a third title defense, he is slowly closing in on GOAT status according to the UFC bossman in Dana White.
