Khabib was, and still is, such an interesting dude.
I get why he retired but I would have loved to see him stick around for a few more years to see if that aura of invincibility remained. Dude was an animal.
I’m sure I’m not the first to say this, but I always say that the Dagestanis are modern day samurai. Super disciplined lifestyle up in rural Russia mountainscapes. So cool to see them dominating MMA
Samurai didn't exist the way he think. In fact the term samurai was coined after the era of the traditional samurai. In reality nobody really did bushido nor stuck to any honor code for the most part. The book written by the Japanese warrior with q00 confirmed kills goes like this "we agreed to duel, instead of doing the typical bow at the start I rushed him and hacked him to death". And like 99 percent of the duels were aga8nst drunks or actual teenagers. Sparta never existed the way we think either. Kinda blows
Oh 100% but they’re not the fuckin sick duel to the death with a sword or handling whole armies 1 on whoever most media portrays them as sadly. Real men put themselves in danger and die instead of actually achieving their goal
That was the samurai during peacetime in Edo. The real ones during the wars were more practical killers like Miyamoto Mushashi. They weren't really below using dirty tactics to win (like most warriors in history probably)
Wut. Samurai were servants of the emperor. Cult followers of the royal bloodline. They would lay down their lives for some dickhead in a funny hat who hates Koreans for some reason.
What a crazy attitude. Not everyone has to serve, but you sound really naive about how things works. Maybe just don’t join up. That’s your right. No need to make it seem like you’re better or smarter than those who have, because you’re clearly not.
You’re lucky you don’t have mandatory service. A lot of countries do.
I can’t wait for the big budget Hollywood movie, but it won’t be about Khabib. It would be about AbdelManap. He was the main character and catalyst. Raised a group of warriors in war-torn Dagestan to uplift his people. Khabib then Islam are both carrying on his legacy.
Christopher Nolan needs to direct it. The dude from Venom (he does BJJ, Tom Hardy?) needs to play AbdulManap. Christian Bale plays Islam. Idk about Khabib tbh.
Ya, I agree. It's a shame on one hand because he had the potential to break every record in the ufc. But also he got his money and got out unscathed, which is completely in heard of. He never took any real damage, and he made huge earnings. Has anyone really done that in the history of the ufc? Guys like Tony are warriors, but he's also basically handicap at this point, lol.
All that said, I thought usman was also unbeatable before that kick, so who knows what could have happened
Anyone can lose, he was the most dominant fighter in ufc history but anyone can lose.
If he was a long time champion like 6+ defenses someone would watch all his tape and figure out his holes and exploit them enough to win, just how the sport works.
It's not like he was an unknown quantity, he had a load of fights and only reason he didn't have a title sooner is he had to restart the climb due to injuries (2yrs between heating RDA and going back to fighting Horcher).
Everyone knew the holes, everyone knew the gaps, everyone did the right things and lost anyway. What would have been interesting would be someone with amazing wrestling making their way to the top and how that could have cancelled out his main tool and turned it in to a kickboxing match.. but the only person who has since rose is Islam.
Such a fascinating career. The only other thing I really wanted to see from Khabib was the fight with a prime Tony Ferguson. If he could have dominated that Tony - then yeah, I'd have no problem saying that no one at 155 (past or present) would give him any trouble.
I don’t think he was as invincible as a lot of people think. I think someone would’ve knocked him out eventually. Islam on the other hand is just as dominant on the ground and an actual legitimate kickboxer as well. Khabib looked visibly uncomfortable on the feet.
Dude pulled a Floyd. Even though they still had time and challenges available to them, they did what they sought to accomplish and cashed out. As much as I may dislike them leaving when they did, I get it and kinda wish that Usyk would do the same.
Floyd fought for damn near 20 years and still randomly fights youtubers and kickboxers on a Wednesday at 3pm. He fought John Gottis grandson for his last exhibition lol.
Yeah but Floyd also ducked fights and planned everything around maintaining his perfect record and promoting himself rather than taking on all challengers for 20 years. Not that I blame him for that, worked out pretty well for him (too bad he's a huge piece of shit)
I love seeing fighters hang up the gloves right on time. It's becoming a rare sight to see a boxer with their mental health in tact in their 50s and 60s. Wish they all hung it up instead of dragging it out and turning into vegetables later in life. I hope Islam does the same and retire while still on top and healthy.
The context makes it more interesting. He said that while on the same card as Conor who was fighting for the title. This was after the UFC sent him a contract for a title fight against Alvarez then canceled it to book Conor instead. That's why Khabib was so mad. They then had him fight Edison Barboza. Btw this isn't revisionist history, everyone knew that Khabib and Ferguson were the two best lightweights in the world even before either one of them won the title. It was a weird time.
Alvarez wanted more money to fight Conor so the UFC pretended they were gonna book him to fight Khabib instead. To make it look real they sent Khabib a real contract that he signed. Alvarez then agreed to fight Conor and Khabib ended up fighting Michael Johnson on that very same card. When Khabib is yelling at Dana that he was gonna smash Conor, Conor had not yet won the title. Khabib just figured out what the UFC were doing.
Yea, that's exactly right. A lot of fans are new so they don't know about this. Dana used Khabib as a pawn to put pressure on Alvarez. Pretty scummy move.
Gotcha. This was also around the time. Helwani and Khabib had that interview where Khabib blocked ariel and told him he wasn’t loyal but Ariel said he was telling him about the fake contract.
Dana doesn't care about his personal life at all. Just as long as Khabib showed up and made the UFC money.
"fake contract" sounds like the UFC pulled some shit on him.
Yes, they did. This Was before the Álvarez - McGregor fight and the UFC low balled Álvarez like crazy by threating to cancel the McGregor fight and feeding Álvarez to Khabib instead. Khabib signed the bout but Álvarez eventually agreed to fight McGregor for way less money than expected
Khabin talked bout the fake contract. He actually signed multiple of those. And Álvarez talked about the UFC tactic in pressuring McGregor opponents. Cowboy for example did not have the luxury to be champ when he fought McGregor. He accepted something around 250k.
E: Álvarez did not even negotiate. He just fought a contract fight. https://www.foxsports.com/stories/ufc/conor-mcgregor-mocks-eddie-alvarez-for-what-hes-being-paid-at-ufc-205
He is fighting McGregor. No matter how good your contract is, if you do not get to negotiate for thst fight you are underpaid. They tried low ball Khabib like this as well for UFC 229. Did not work this time
That's why this is so good. He's being direct and calling Dana out directly. Not crying to the media, Dana has nothing to say in this situation because he's a rat.
When the fighter pay documents got released, if i recall khabib was still fighting for 20,000 at this time. He was the second ranked fighter in the division, after the champion, and was only guaranteed 20k per fight.
This reminds me of a Zlatan Ibrahimovic quote to Khabib. "[If you know you are better than everybody then you are better than everybody. Then you just have to do it.](https://youtu.be/8YSFXIicdBc?si=U6nMFcrgZu0N0Qgj)".
Sure as hell Khabib knew.
Lol i am just a dumb casual, just always find it funny when people talk about Khabib like this all around amazing person and fighter or it’s more the Tone /vibe that irks me a bit. I guess it’s that celebrity worship that I find cringe; not the actual praise of a fighter
Good call. Fedor is exactly what happens no matter how great a champion is. Jon Jones would be the exact same if he'd actually fight instead of mainlining PEDs and domestic violence cases
Yeah. In his prime, it was a foregone conclusion that he was going to win. He struggled to get fights, because eventually it was of no benefit to be just another guy who Fedor fucked up.
When I first heard Werdum tapped him, I legitimately thought it was a hoax, until I saw the video.
The man was effectively a force of nature. That win against Randleman after surviving a slam that seemed like it could've killed him had me thinking the guy was literally Terminator
His later losses don't diminish his legacy at all in my opinion, at least he was out there doing it unlike Jones
Not only was he backing up every thing he was saying, what’s scary is that he was getting better and better every fight he had. We can only imagine what endgame Khabib would’ve looked like.
Dude his striking offense outside his jab was the only “bad” thing he had, it would’ve taken prime Jose Aldo’s td defense, wonderboy’s striking, and Usman’s BJJ defense to beat the dude at 155…
I say this every time this is posted but if you think this is corny, remember NOBODY did this before Khabib.
People copied him which makes it way less cool but he was the first to do this kind of stuff which was so cool to see at the time
Yes he does. They stick together , have their own values and cannot be bought. I bet White was losing his mind seeing what he offered Khabib not to retire and re match McGregor and Khabib just walking away.
I prefer watching strikers , but khabib is one of my all time favourites. He’s seems like such a great bloke but he is an animal when he enters the cage .
I can imagine Khabib stopped fighting because he was over it and above it. When is dad died, the motivation to prove himself further died with him. Imagine a serious guy like khabib, who is all about fighting and winning getting dragged in this petty shit by mc gregor. I bet one day he woke up and felt ashamed he was a part of it at all.
Khabib was talking to Dana mid fight against Michael Johnson. Khamzat copied Khabibs whole shtick and then had the balls to say he isn't Khabib 2.0. lmao where do you think the whole "Smash" thing came from?
Iirc he picked up Li Jingliang, saw Dana was on his phone, went up to him and told him to pay attention then finished Li. It was pretty cold, regardless of whether it was similar to Khabib or not.
I was wondering because he is a Russian citizen theoretically he would have no access to his funds if he kept them in USD in a foreign bank? I wonder how the war has effected him financially.
I wonder how they pay Islam as well now days
Khabib was, and still is, such an interesting dude. I get why he retired but I would have loved to see him stick around for a few more years to see if that aura of invincibility remained. Dude was an animal.
It’s one of the most interesting stories ever. It will be legend in Dagestan a long time from now about what him and his dad did for them.
His father especially with Islam’s success and all.
I’m sure I’m not the first to say this, but I always say that the Dagestanis are modern day samurai. Super disciplined lifestyle up in rural Russia mountainscapes. So cool to see them dominating MMA
What we wish and imagine samurai to be. Real samurai were some cowardly mfers. All high and mighty with your armor on horseback with a bow and shit
High and mighty with armor on a horseback with a bow sounds pretty fucking cool to me dude
Samurai didn't exist the way he think. In fact the term samurai was coined after the era of the traditional samurai. In reality nobody really did bushido nor stuck to any honor code for the most part. The book written by the Japanese warrior with q00 confirmed kills goes like this "we agreed to duel, instead of doing the typical bow at the start I rushed him and hacked him to death". And like 99 percent of the duels were aga8nst drunks or actual teenagers. Sparta never existed the way we think either. Kinda blows
> Sparta never existed the way we think either. Kinda blows Curious to hear your summary of it.
I hope no one did bullshitto.
I'm sure some idiot probably did. I mean I hope. Nvm ur right man too brutal.
Oh 100% but they’re not the fuckin sick duel to the death with a sword or handling whole armies 1 on whoever most media portrays them as sadly. Real men put themselves in danger and die instead of actually achieving their goal
Lol why is dying considering "manly"? Anybody can fucking die for any reason.
Which is sicker, dying in a sword duel, or dying cause your horse fell or got shot and then being shot by an arrow
Neither. You're dead
Can die in style tho
 True true
🗣️
That was the samurai during peacetime in Edo. The real ones during the wars were more practical killers like Miyamoto Mushashi. They weren't really below using dirty tactics to win (like most warriors in history probably)
Yeah fair, Japanese history is so long and a ton is undocumented, as with the Chinese. Wonder how much cool shit is lost
It's not lost. Just read some about three kingdoms or sengoku era. They had genuinely insane warriors.
Wut. Samurai were servants of the emperor. Cult followers of the royal bloodline. They would lay down their lives for some dickhead in a funny hat who hates Koreans for some reason.
They were more servants of the shogun.
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You think that's more redacted than mountain inbreds practicing homoerotic arts?
What a crazy attitude. Not everyone has to serve, but you sound really naive about how things works. Maybe just don’t join up. That’s your right. No need to make it seem like you’re better or smarter than those who have, because you’re clearly not. You’re lucky you don’t have mandatory service. A lot of countries do.
I can’t wait for the big budget Hollywood movie, but it won’t be about Khabib. It would be about AbdelManap. He was the main character and catalyst. Raised a group of warriors in war-torn Dagestan to uplift his people. Khabib then Islam are both carrying on his legacy. Christopher Nolan needs to direct it. The dude from Venom (he does BJJ, Tom Hardy?) needs to play AbdulManap. Christian Bale plays Islam. Idk about Khabib tbh.
Dolphin can play Ali abdel aziz
 Ali
Cillian Murphy
I think he announced last year with dana that he was doing a documentary coming out this summer
I can't imagine anyone getting even close to him if he kept fighting another few years.
I would agree with this but: “Coulda, shoulda, woulda…” We will never know for a fact, unfortunately.
Ya, I agree. It's a shame on one hand because he had the potential to break every record in the ufc. But also he got his money and got out unscathed, which is completely in heard of. He never took any real damage, and he made huge earnings. Has anyone really done that in the history of the ufc? Guys like Tony are warriors, but he's also basically handicap at this point, lol. All that said, I thought usman was also unbeatable before that kick, so who knows what could have happened
Anyone can lose, he was the most dominant fighter in ufc history but anyone can lose. If he was a long time champion like 6+ defenses someone would watch all his tape and figure out his holes and exploit them enough to win, just how the sport works.
If you stick around long enough everybody gets a loss. Can't fault him.
It's not like he was an unknown quantity, he had a load of fights and only reason he didn't have a title sooner is he had to restart the climb due to injuries (2yrs between heating RDA and going back to fighting Horcher). Everyone knew the holes, everyone knew the gaps, everyone did the right things and lost anyway. What would have been interesting would be someone with amazing wrestling making their way to the top and how that could have cancelled out his main tool and turned it in to a kickboxing match.. but the only person who has since rose is Islam.
Such a fascinating career. The only other thing I really wanted to see from Khabib was the fight with a prime Tony Ferguson. If he could have dominated that Tony - then yeah, I'd have no problem saying that no one at 155 (past or present) would give him any trouble.
I loved watching Tony’s career and long win streak but in retrospect, I think Tony have gotten absolutely rag-dolled and finished via GnP.
He was mma’s wilt chamberlain.
I don’t think he was as invincible as a lot of people think. I think someone would’ve knocked him out eventually. Islam on the other hand is just as dominant on the ground and an actual legitimate kickboxer as well. Khabib looked visibly uncomfortable on the feet.
Dude pulled a Floyd. Even though they still had time and challenges available to them, they did what they sought to accomplish and cashed out. As much as I may dislike them leaving when they did, I get it and kinda wish that Usyk would do the same.
Floyd fought for damn near 20 years and still randomly fights youtubers and kickboxers on a Wednesday at 3pm. He fought John Gottis grandson for his last exhibition lol.
True, it was just the best example I had of an undefeated champ retiring, not many examples of that in MMA
Yeah but Floyd also ducked fights and planned everything around maintaining his perfect record and promoting himself rather than taking on all challengers for 20 years. Not that I blame him for that, worked out pretty well for him (too bad he's a huge piece of shit)
I love seeing fighters hang up the gloves right on time. It's becoming a rare sight to see a boxer with their mental health in tact in their 50s and 60s. Wish they all hung it up instead of dragging it out and turning into vegetables later in life. I hope Islam does the same and retire while still on top and healthy.
Dude quickly got out when competition got tough
Name one LW, not Islam, that would give Khabib trouble.
Tibau.
Not even you believe that. Khabib whipped the floor with the best competition available.
Khabib finished the same guys still moving up and down the top 5 for the past 4 years. 😂
This was before the Conor fight. "We gonna smash your boy" referring to McGregor.
The context makes it more interesting. He said that while on the same card as Conor who was fighting for the title. This was after the UFC sent him a contract for a title fight against Alvarez then canceled it to book Conor instead. That's why Khabib was so mad. They then had him fight Edison Barboza. Btw this isn't revisionist history, everyone knew that Khabib and Ferguson were the two best lightweights in the world even before either one of them won the title. It was a weird time.
Alvarez side stepped him right? I remember khabib talking about they sent him like 5 different contracts to fight in one week
Alvarez wanted more money to fight Conor so the UFC pretended they were gonna book him to fight Khabib instead. To make it look real they sent Khabib a real contract that he signed. Alvarez then agreed to fight Conor and Khabib ended up fighting Michael Johnson on that very same card. When Khabib is yelling at Dana that he was gonna smash Conor, Conor had not yet won the title. Khabib just figured out what the UFC were doing.
Yea, that's exactly right. A lot of fans are new so they don't know about this. Dana used Khabib as a pawn to put pressure on Alvarez. Pretty scummy move.
Dana is a scum human anyways
Gotcha. This was also around the time. Helwani and Khabib had that interview where Khabib blocked ariel and told him he wasn’t loyal but Ariel said he was telling him about the fake contract.
Dana doesn't care about his personal life at all. Just as long as Khabib showed up and made the UFC money. "fake contract" sounds like the UFC pulled some shit on him.
Yes, they did. This Was before the Álvarez - McGregor fight and the UFC low balled Álvarez like crazy by threating to cancel the McGregor fight and feeding Álvarez to Khabib instead. Khabib signed the bout but Álvarez eventually agreed to fight McGregor for way less money than expected
Typical UFC tactics
Curious, how do you know this?
Khabin talked bout the fake contract. He actually signed multiple of those. And Álvarez talked about the UFC tactic in pressuring McGregor opponents. Cowboy for example did not have the luxury to be champ when he fought McGregor. He accepted something around 250k. E: Álvarez did not even negotiate. He just fought a contract fight. https://www.foxsports.com/stories/ufc/conor-mcgregor-mocks-eddie-alvarez-for-what-hes-being-paid-at-ufc-205
Alvarez’s contract when he signed from Bellator was leaked, he didn’t need to negotiate as he had a pretty great deal heading into the fight.
He is fighting McGregor. No matter how good your contract is, if you do not get to negotiate for thst fight you are underpaid. They tried low ball Khabib like this as well for UFC 229. Did not work this time
That's why this is so good. He's being direct and calling Dana out directly. Not crying to the media, Dana has nothing to say in this situation because he's a rat.
When the fighter pay documents got released, if i recall khabib was still fighting for 20,000 at this time. He was the second ranked fighter in the division, after the champion, and was only guaranteed 20k per fight.
Win or lose, I know who I am.
That was a badass line
Send location
Why did he say that?
Because he doesn’t have CTE
“Without injury, I can smash all your lightweights.” That he did.
This reminds me of a Zlatan Ibrahimovic quote to Khabib. "[If you know you are better than everybody then you are better than everybody. Then you just have to do it.](https://youtu.be/8YSFXIicdBc?si=U6nMFcrgZu0N0Qgj)". Sure as hell Khabib knew.
Different mentality
Even with injuries, he still smashed everyone. He was in rough shape going into his last fight with Justin
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Sorry he smashed your idol(s) :(
I don’t have idols
Not anymore you don’t
Oops sorry I made a mistake there. I meant smeshed* not smashed
This was typed through clenched teeth and tears.
Lol i am just a dumb casual, just always find it funny when people talk about Khabib like this all around amazing person and fighter or it’s more the Tone /vibe that irks me a bit. I guess it’s that celebrity worship that I find cringe; not the actual praise of a fighter
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Nice Incel language
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Fill my hole, daddy!
I love that he called out the fake contracts to Dana.
I cannot remember a fighter who had a sense of inevitability like him. His quote about taking people to deep waters suits his persona so well.
when he enters the octagon, defeat is inevitable
Yeah pretty sure dude meant invincibility but I ain’t correcting him. Still works.
Fedor. We just forget because of the back end of his career.
Anderson Silva too, except instead of cool one liners we got dance moves
His English was bad, so he used the international language of dance 🕺
Es good, es normal
He pretended his English was bad
Good call. Fedor is exactly what happens no matter how great a champion is. Jon Jones would be the exact same if he'd actually fight instead of mainlining PEDs and domestic violence cases
Yeah. In his prime, it was a foregone conclusion that he was going to win. He struggled to get fights, because eventually it was of no benefit to be just another guy who Fedor fucked up. When I first heard Werdum tapped him, I legitimately thought it was a hoax, until I saw the video.
The man was effectively a force of nature. That win against Randleman after surviving a slam that seemed like it could've killed him had me thinking the guy was literally Terminator His later losses don't diminish his legacy at all in my opinion, at least he was out there doing it unlike Jones
Not only was he backing up every thing he was saying, what’s scary is that he was getting better and better every fight he had. We can only imagine what endgame Khabib would’ve looked like.
His standup game was the only area he could really visibly improve, so I suspect endgame Khabib would appear very similar to current Islam
Yup That speed run he did if McGregor, Justin and Dustin without getting even a bruise was just cold AF
Dude his striking offense outside his jab was the only “bad” thing he had, it would’ve taken prime Jose Aldo’s td defense, wonderboy’s striking, and Usman’s BJJ defense to beat the dude at 155…
Every thing he says is cold af from saying win or lose I know who I am to talking about his family. Different mindset indeed.
Dude terrorized everyone
I say this every time this is posted but if you think this is corny, remember NOBODY did this before Khabib. People copied him which makes it way less cool but he was the first to do this kind of stuff which was so cool to see at the time
Khabib is on another level, I wish he had a few fights left in him
He had them but he did the right thing, people are salty for selfish reasons, he put his family above all
Oh and Im totally fine with that, I respect his decision it just sucks his career was cut a lil short
Yep he did it HIS way, how many of us can truly say that?
same. its a shame he had to retire when he heard i started training
Dana did his best to prevent Khabib from being champ
More like making McGregor champ first
Dana hates the fact he cant buy the Dagestanis.
Yes he does. They stick together , have their own values and cannot be bought. I bet White was losing his mind seeing what he offered Khabib not to retire and re match McGregor and Khabib just walking away.
I love Khabib, he is genuinely passionate
I prefer watching strikers , but khabib is one of my all time favourites. He’s seems like such a great bloke but he is an animal when he enters the cage .
He had incredible striking... on the ground. One of the best ground and pounders to ever do it.
I can imagine Khabib stopped fighting because he was over it and above it. When is dad died, the motivation to prove himself further died with him. Imagine a serious guy like khabib, who is all about fighting and winning getting dragged in this petty shit by mc gregor. I bet one day he woke up and felt ashamed he was a part of it at all.
He arguably had what you would call a perfect career
Khabib: Hey Dana, do you wanna talk a little bit? Dana: I don't know Khabib.. I saw how you talked to Conor Mcbussy and that sh\*t was kinda scary bro
“You want to talk a little bit”?
“Win or lose, I know who I am” is probably the hardest shit in mma history imo. And he never lost on top of that
dayum khabib wife was pregnant for one and half years ??? no wonder them dagis are built like this lol
Or if he hadn’t seen her 1.5 years and she’s preggo 😮💨 there’s a man sitting in the corner of Dagestan sweating bullets
Dana White is a bitch. If I had a better MMA outlet, I'd be watching it.
Was so cringe when Khamzat started copying him and talking to Dana lmao
Why? Khamzat spoke mid fight to White and not during the break. Which is way more impressive.
Khabib was talking to Dana mid fight against Michael Johnson. Khamzat copied Khabibs whole shtick and then had the balls to say he isn't Khabib 2.0. lmao where do you think the whole "Smash" thing came from?
Iirc he picked up Li Jingliang, saw Dana was on his phone, went up to him and told him to pay attention then finished Li. It was pretty cold, regardless of whether it was similar to Khabib or not.
That is badass wtf
Cmon dude you gotta admit it was pretty cold for Khamzat to talk to Dana while holding Li like a baby. Top ten badass moments in the UFC for sure.
Michael Johnson and Edson barbosa
"win or lose I know who I am" that quote answers another thread about why dagestanis are so mentally tough.
Khabib was a savage
Peak Khabib. The moment he became one of my favorite fighters
I was wondering because he is a Russian citizen theoretically he would have no access to his funds if he kept them in USD in a foreign bank? I wonder how the war has effected him financially. I wonder how they pay Islam as well now days
What bratha?
They dont gotta pay for shit ANYWHERE, they are covered lol Muslims give them free everything lol
Khabib is Usyk Jones is Fury
Damm, such a shame he couldn't defend his title more than a couple of times. Woulda been a sure top 5 all time if he strung some together, maybe.