When Khabib Nurmagomedov was asked about when he plans to retire recently, the UFC lightweight champion noted that his legacy would likely be cemented after going 30-0. The 32-year-old is currently 28-0 with a title unification bout upcoming against Justin Gaethje at UFC 254.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” Nurmagomedov said to Yahoo! Sports (transcriptions via The Body Lock). “30-0 is going to be great. It’s looking good, it sounds good.”
Khabib’s record was 16-0 when he made his UFC debut in 2012. In his 12 UFC victories, he’s won by submission 4x, KO/TKO twice, and earned 6 decision wins. He’s successfully defended the UFC lightweight belt against Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier.
“30-0, okay. It’s going to be a great record, this is like Mayweather in MMA. We’ll see, I’m very close to it.”
Khabib continued to say that he will always go down in history for beating Conor. He wants to build on that legacy, however.
“Okay, I finish Justin Gaethje, I finish one more guy, I dominate him—I think my name is going to be always in history,” Nurmagomedov said. “I think already my name is going to be in history because two years ago what happened [against McGregor] is never going to be forgotten. Even after 50 years, people are going to watch this fight and be impressed. This is like when Muhammad Ali fought [Joe] Frazier in Manila. People never forget this fight.”
“I’m already in history but I need legacy. For legacy, Justin Gaethje is a great opponent right now,” he continued.
