"He's in a special category, but he ain't the best" - Henry Cejudo doesn't think Khabib Nurmagomedov ranks in the top 5 of all time
Former UFC flyweight and bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo has revealed that he does not believe Khabib Nurmagomedov ranks within the top five MMA fighters of all time.
In a recent appearance on former UFC fighter Mike Swick's YouTube channel, Henry Cejudo was asked where he believes Khabib Nurmagomedov stands in terms of the greatest MMA fighters of all time. 'Triple C' said:
"He's in a special category, but he ain't the best. I probably put him, your gonna think I'm crazy, like in the top ten. There's so many great fighters, I can name them for you."
Khabib Nurmagomedov retired in 2020 after defending his lightweight title against Justin Gaethje. He held a perfect record of 29 wins and zero defeats. Henry Cejudo also retired in 2020 after defeating Dominick Cruz at UFC 249.
Henry Cejudo's top 10 MMA fighters of all time
After giving his take on Khabib, Cejudo revealed his top 10 fighters of all time. In true 'Triple C' fashion, he put himself on the list as well.
"I would put: Jon Jones, Demetrious Johnson, Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, Randy Coutore. I would put myself at number six, two division champ, defended both my belts, beat the best out of my generation. Dominick Cruz, Demetrious Johnson, TJ Dillashaw. At number seven I would probably do Khabib."
Ranking Khabib seventh is certainly a controversial take, but it is clearly something Cejudo has carefully considered. He backed his choice by saying:
"Even though he's 29-0 there's still a lot of people for him to beat, even though he did beat everybody. I think the fight that really tends to hurt him is that Al Iaquinta fight. In that fight he looked horrible. He dominated but he still showed a lot of holes in that position."
Henry Cejudo then revealed the last three spots on his list:
"Number eight I would do Daniel Cormier. Number nine, I'm not sure. Maybe a BJ Penn. And then number ten, probably Fedor. Fedor could have been number one, he just did too much than what he should have. Fedor at one point was a pound for pound, was the best ever and then he just tarnished that s**t."