Khabib Nurmagomedov
I’ll make an admission: I actually pondered leaving [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag] off this list. It wasn’t because of any question mark about his fighting ability or his ability to maintain his position as the premier lightweight fighter on the planet. I just wasn’t 100 percent sure how much longer Nurmagomedov will actually want to continue fighting. But then, when I looked at the matchups that potentially lie ahead for the Russian superstar, I came to the conclusion that he’s too much of a competitor to not meet these challenges head on.
It’s unlikely he’ll still be competing as we get to the latter years of the 2020s. But, like a number of others on this list, he’s in his early 30s and at the stage in his career where he may be about to hit his athletic peak. And, with a string of potentially huge fights all just waiting to be made, Khabib’s body of work in the first half of the decade could well see him contending strongly for a spot high up on the list when we revisit it in 10 years.
Tony Ferguson, Conor McGregor and Justin Gaethje (as well as possible rematches) are all slam-dunk bookings for Khabib over the next two years, while the possibility of a one-off superfight with Georges St-Pierre is a topic that never fully seems to go away (especially when people like me keep bringing it up).
There’s also the mouth-watering prospect of a catchweight clash between Nurmagomedov and Colby Covington, who told me he’d be down to face “The Eagle” at 170, 165 or even 160 pounds. And if all of that wasn’t enough to quench Khabib’s competitive thirst, there’s always the option of a move up to 170 pounds. And you never know, the UFC may even finally cave in and add a 165-pound division in the next few years.
In short, there are so many options in Nurmagomedov’s inbox at the moment that it might take him half a decade to clear it all. And if he does so and comes out the other side with his undefeated record still intact, then we wouldn’t just be talking about him as a candidate for the top spot on the list, we’d be talking about GOAT status.
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