Khabib Nurmagomedov has hit back at Conor McGregor’s claims he will go down as the greatest fighter in mixed martial arts history.
The Irishman, a two-division champion, has been causing a stir on social media once more, posting at the weekend that he will ultimately trump Anderson Silva, George St-Pierre and Jon Jones as the best to have entered the octagon.
McGregor, who most recently registered a 40-second victory against Donald Cerrone in January, put forward on Twitter his arguments for each fighter, saying he is either currently second to Silva, or joint-first alongside the Brazilian, in the all-time list.
That has piqued Nurmagomedov's interest, a long-time rival and current lightweight champion. The Russian defeated McGregor at the now-infamous UFC 229 in October 2018, submitting his opponent in the fourth round. The win sparked a post-bout brawl and led to suspensions for both fighters.
On Twitter on Sunday, Nurmagomedov pointed to McGregor's submission losses in three different weights as evidence his fortitude falls someway behind St-Pierre (GSP), Anderson "The Spider" Silva and Jon “Bones” Jones.
Nurmagomedov said: “You tapped out in featherweight, you tapped out in lightweight and you tapped in welterweight, you never defended title in the UFC or Cage Warriors, you gave up more than GSP, Spider and Bones all together. You greatest @ufc fighter in twitter history.”
McGregor’s outburst, which also touched upon Silva and Jones previously testing positive for banned substances, prompted a reaction from a number of UFC fighters, most notably Jones.
The current light heavyweight champion, who has recently teased a move up to heavyweight, reminded McGregor that he is yet to successfully defend a title, adding: “I’m not going to debate on who is the goat. I’ll let the fans do that for me.”
Jones later thanked Nurmagomedov for his tweet, while also posting a list of most wins in UFC title bouts accompanied by “GOAT, where you at” in a dig aimed at McGregor. Jones tops the standings, with 14.
Nurmagomedov, meanwhile, is expected to resume his assault on the UFC all-time rankings later this year. Boasting a 12-fight win streak, he last fought at UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi last September, where he defeated interim champion Dustin Poirier by third-round submission.
