Some of the biggest fights in MMA history have eluded us to this day.
Big fights, like Randy Couture vs. Fedor Emelianenko or Francis Ngannou vs. Jon Jones, never came to fruition due to promotional disputes. Some fights happened too late, like seeing a shell of a performance from two legendary athletes, as with Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz in their 2018 trilogy match.
Fans and pundits often speculate on ‘who would have won’ scenarios, and it’s no different for UFC champions like Belal Muhammad, who offered his take on one of the most popular fantasy fights: Georges St-Pierre (GSP) vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Belal Muhammad picks Khabib Nurmagomedov to defeat Georges St-Pierre
Muhammad answered a fan question as part of a recent appearance on Submission Radio, asking him to pick a winner between the two all-time greats. His response was confident.
“I think that Khabib is the best to ever do it,” Muhammad explained. “. . . I just think that when I’m looking at both styles I don’t think GSP would have been able to take down Khabib, but I do think that Khabib would have been able to take him down and keep him there. . . . I would definitely go with Khabib.”
The legendary careers of Georges St-Pierre and Khabib Nurmagomedov
GSP cut his teeth in the UFC’s welterweight division, losing his first undisputed title fight to Matt Hughes in 2004. He’d avenge his loss and claim the belt at UFC 65 in 2006, before immediately dropping it to +850 underdog Matt Serra.
‘Rush’ defeated Josh Koshcheck, before winning the interim title from Hughes and taking his belt back from Serra. He then defended his title ten times before retiring for four years and unretiring to claim middleweight gold against Michael Bisping.
GSP, like Lennox Lewis in boxing, defeated every man he fought inside the Octagon. The only major disparity between his and Nurmagomedov’s resume is the defeats and title defenses. Nurmagomedov retired 29-0 after defeating Justin Gaethje at UFC 254.
‘The Eagle’ is in a four-way tie along with Islam Makhachev, BJ Penn, and Benson Henderson with three title defenses each in the UFC lightweight division. Makhachev will have the opportunity to break Nurmagomedov’s record at UFC 311.