Since becoming the UFC lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev has consistently found himself being compared to his coach and friend, Khabib Nurmagomedov.
When Khabib Nurmagomedov was reigning over the lightweight division and dominating every fighter in his path, it was hard to imagine that another fighter would see a similar amount of success.
Despite that, Islam Makhachev has taken over Nurmagomedov’s legacy and is looking as dominant as ‘The Eagle’, drawing constant comparisons to his long-time training partner and friend.
Ahead of his title defense against Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 311, Makhachev has the chance to overtake Khabib and three other lightweights by breaking the lightweight title defense record.
Arman Tsarukyan explains why Makhachev is a different fighter from Khabib
With Tsarukyan looking to continue the trend in the 155lb division of dethroning the champion at three title defenses, he has even drafted in the help of the only man to have ever beaten Makhachev.
‘Ahalkalakets’ has been extremely complimentary towards Khabib who he has called his lightweight GOAT.
Tsarukyan admitted that he took inspiration from Khabib early on in his career after being told by his friend to watch his highlights. The 28-year-old stated that after watching Khabib, he decided to take up fighting.
Despite that, disagrees with the notion that Makhachev and Khabib are similar fighters and has explained why they are different.
“Yeah, if you beat Islam, you’re gonna beat Khabib’s gameplan,” he began to explain in an interview with TNT Sports.
“Islam is a new version of Khabib, he’s more well-rounded than Khabib but Khabib has better wrestling, his ground-and-pound is way better, on the ground, Khabib is one of the best,” Tsarukyan continued.
Khabib shocked the world in 2020 when he retired from the sport following a win over Justin Gaethje. The Armenian has admitted that a fight against Khabib was one of his dreams.
“Yeah for sure (I wanted to fight Khabib), it’s a dream fight,” he admitted.
Tsarukyan would like to complete a training camp with Khabib Nurmagomedov
With Khabib being one of Tsarukyan’s idols and someone he has molded his game on, despite his looming fight against Makhachev, the 28-year-old has admitted he would like to train in a camp under Khabib.
Stranger things have happened in MMA and recently former rivals Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker squashed their feud and seemingly became friends after training together.
Tsarukyan has made it clear that if he wins the title at UFC 311, he only wants to fight for money in the future, claiming that his legacy will already be set after beating Makhachev.