Colby Covington explains why he doesn't consider Khabib Nurmagomedov the GOAT, but admits 'retiring undefeated is a great mark'
Colby Covington has given his honest opinion on Khabib Nurmagomedov's place in the conversation for being the greatest of all time. During an interview with James Lynch of MMA News, 'Chaos' opined that Nurmagomedov did not defend his UFC lightweight title enough times.
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Colby Covington went on to speak about 'The Eagle' taking a lot of breaks from fighting and claimed that he never fought a well-rounded fighter. 'Chaos' accused Nurmagomedov of fighting strikers, instead of fighters who could wrestle with him:
"Yeah, he's in the conversation, he's up there but, yeah, he never defended his title that many times. He took a lot of breaks and you know, he never really had someone that was well-rounded that fought him. He fought a bunch of strikers, it was good timing for his career. He didn't have to fight anybody that could wrestle and strike with him," said Colby Covington.
Colby Covington went on to add that he doesn't consider Khabib Nurmagomedov to be the GOAT. However, the former interim UFC welterweight champion did praise Nurmagomedov for his resume and said that retiring undefeated is a "great mark".
Regardless, 'Chaos' remained critical of Khabib Nurmagomedov's title defense record:
"So, I don't know, I don't consider him the greatest of all time. I mean, he has a great resume, undefeated, retiring undefeated is a great mark. But definitely, he didn't challenge or he didn't defend that title enough times and you know, he didn't beat enough high level names to really speak for his resume as the GOAT," added Colby Covington.
Check out Colby Covington's interview below:
Khabib Nurmagomedov retired from MMA competition in 2020
In 2020, at UFC 254, Khabib Nurmagomedov retired from the sport following his third successful defense of the lightweight gold. 'The Eagle' defeated Justin Gaethje in the second round of their clash via submission.
Before his win over 'The Highlight', Khabib Nurmagomedov defended his title twice. His first defense was against arch-rival Conor McGregor and his second was against Dustin Poirier.