Khabib Nurmagomedov retired with a perfect 29-0 record. While he rode off into the sunset, Chael Sonnen believes there is one lightweight that would have given him a run for his money.
The former UFC Lightweight Champion remained mostly untouched in his MMA run. Domination was the name of his game. He hardly ever lost a round, never experiencing much adversity.
Chael Sonnen Shares Who Might Have Beat Khabib
However, former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen knows somebody who would’ve given Khabib a challenge.
“When I would have private conversations… people would ask me all the time, is there anyone that could beat Khabib. Who’s the guy that can stop Khabib?” Sonnen asked.
“In private conversations I would say we actually have a guy now. He (was) 11-0, he’s a national wrestling champion, nobody’s ever come close to taking him down, he’s taken absolutely everybody down, oh, and by the way, he can hold up.”
Khabib vs. Gillespie
Sonnen is talking about no other than Gregor Gillespie. While Khabib was still ‘Superman’ at lightweight, Sonnen believes the wrestling credentials and relentlessness of Gillespie would have been his kryptonite.
“One thing that Khabib could do was push a pace that was much higher than what the opponent could push back. (Gregor) made his living getting people tired. That’s how highly I personally think of him. Now in all fairness, I did not do that publicly but the reason I didn’t do that publicly was you didn’t know what a Gregor Gillespie was.”
Gillespie unfortunately never got to see Khabib in the Octagon. The undefeated fighter would suffer his first and only loss to Kevin Lee back in 2019. Mind you, the knockout was from the feet. Like Khabib, ‘The Gift’ remains to be unwrapped when it comes to the grappling department. Nobody has been able to outwrestle him.
He defeated Diego Ferreira last May, where he proved once again how good his grappling is.
How would a fight between Khabib and Gregor Gillespie go?
