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An old video of Zlatan Ibrahimovic questioning Urijah Faber regarding the ability of Khabib Nurmagomedov has emerged.
Throughout UFC history, we’ve seen very few fighters like Khabib Nurmagomedov. ‘The Eagle’ retired from mixed martial arts last year with an unbelievable 29-0 record, finishing his run as UFC lightweight champion with submission wins over Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje - three of the best 155-pounders of this or any other generation.
Khabib Nurmagomedov is a true enigma
Everyone marvels at Khabib Nurmagomedov and what he’s able to do. That was also true a few years back, as seen in the following footage from summer 2019 of football star Zlatan Ibrahimovic and former UFC title contender Urijah Faber. The conversation went as follows:
Ibrahimovic: How good is Khabib?
Faber: He’s good. I think the mentality is it. I don’t think the skill set is the thing.
Ibrahimovic: I mean he comes from the mountains, they have no food up there, fighting bears!
Zlatan went on to ask whether Urijah thought Khabib could beat Poirier, with ‘The California Kid’ noting that he would. Of course, Faber’s prediction wound up coming to fruition at UFC 242.
Khabib Nurmagomedov is an entirely different breed of fighter when stacked against some of the other pound-for-pound greats. Yet, there’s probably always going to be some intrigue behind the idea of him coming back to go after that elusive 30-0 record.
Alas, his mother made it crystal clear that she didn’t want that to happen, which is probably why we’re very unlikely to see Khabib Nurmagomedov compete inside the cage again.
The same is almost certainly true for Urijah Faber, who last competed in December 2019, losing via head kick knockout to former UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan.
The conversation above likely took place during Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s days at LA Galaxy, but now, he’s back over in Europe with AC Milan for what will likely be the last few months of his career.
As for Khabib Nurmagomedov, he seems to be enjoying his business ventures and coaching responsibilities outside of the fighting sphere.
