Bisping says Khabib ‘took himself out’ of GOAT conversation by retiring early

Is Khabib Nurmagomedov the greatest fighter of all time? UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping doesn’t think so.

Michael Bisping doesn’t think Khabib Nurmagomedov belongs in the GOAT conversation because he retired too early and didn’t defend his UFC lightweight title enough.

Bisping has a tremendous amount of respect for Khabib and his accomplishments but doesn’t think ‘The Eagle’s’ title reign compares to the likes of Anderson Silva or Georges St-Pierre.

Nurmagomedov, as dominant as he was, only defended his lightweight title three times, whereas Silva and GSP have eighteen title defenses between them and ruled their respective divisions for a combined twelve years.

“Yeah, he took himself out of it,” Bisping said of Khabib during a recent appearance on True Geordie’s Pain Game podcast (h/t SportsKeeda). “And if you look, yeah, he didn’t fight the best until the end of his career. When you compare that with GSP or Jones or Anderson, their run against world-class competition was far longer. But for Khabib, I know it was because of his father passing away, and he made a promise to his mother. So, it’s different circumstances.”

“But for those reasons, I think when you look at the resumes, even though he was undefeated, the resumes don’t really stack up. And I say that with tremendous respect to Khabib – Far being from me to downplay his career because I would never dream of doing that.”

Khabib retired at 29-0 following his submission win over Justin Gaethje at UFC 259. The victory saw Nurmagomedov overtake Jon Jones to become the No. 1-ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the world. He has since been removed from the UFC rankings.