Henry
Cejudo believes Khabib
Nurmagomedov didn’t do enough in his career to be considered
one of the greatest of all time.
While Nurmagomedov is widely considered among the greatest fighters
in mixed martial arts history, Cejudo argues that “The Eagle” only
defended the
Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight title thrice.
“Triple C” believes its only title wins and defenses are to be
considered for making it to the GOAT list and the Russian’s
retirement at 32 leaves many unanswered questions.
Henry Cejudo argues Khabib Nurmagomedov’s three UFC title
defenses aren’t enough for GOAT status
Nurmagomedov’s teammate and successor, current pound-for-pound king
Islam
Makhachev, defended his welterweight title against Ian Garry at
UFC
330. Cejudo believes Makhachev, in pursuit of his fourth title
defense overall in the UFC, would have dropped significantly on the
pound-for-pound list if he had lost against Garry.
“No, Khabib is not there, bro,” Cejudo said on the “Pound 4 Pound”
podcast. “Three title defenses? Like, that’s not it, bro. That’s
not it. And I love Khabib Nurmagomedov. But that’s not it. Title
defenses are what people see, bro. You can have a padded record
too, with a bunch of wins. Not saying that he did. Let me put it to
you this way. If Islam Makhachev was unable to secure that victory
over Ian Garry, not defend his belt, he really goes down the list,
bro. Because the most important thing, bro, is to win and then to
defend.”
Nurmagomedov (29-0) won the UFC lightweight title against Al Iaquinta
and defended it against Conor
McGregor, Dustin
Poirier and Justin
Gaethje before retiring undefeated in 2020. Meanwhile, Cejudo
(16-6) won the UFC flyweight title against Demetrious
Johnson and defended it against T.J.
Dillashaw before moving up. Cejudo then won the bantamweight
title against Marlon
Moraes and defended it against Dominick
Cruz before abruptly retiring in 2020.
Cejudo then came out of retirement after three years but never won
again. The Olympic gold medalist dropped four in a row and finally
hung up his gloves following a loss to Payton
Talbott this past December.