Khabib Nurmagomedov never once lost a fight in his mixed martial arts career, but did he ever lose a single round?
That was the subject of a recently revised clip of The Joe Rogan Experience where the long-time UFC color commented discussed Nurmagomedov’s legacy as one of the greatest fighters of all time and attempted to recall whether or not ‘The Eagle’ had ever surrendered a round during his UFC tenure.
“There’s so many personalities,” Rogan said in the clip. “The diversity of personalities in MMA is really fascinating to me as an analyst,” Rogan said. “There are people who are very calm, disciplined, and religious like Khabib Nurmagomedov who’s in the conversation of the greatest of all time. It’s not even a matter of whether he lost because he never lost because he’s 29-0. It’s a matter of did he ever lose a round.
“He lost maybe one round in the Conor McGregor fight because in one round it looked like he was kind of taking a round off to really put the heat on him. He was slowing Conor down and then he was taking him down and beating the sh*t out of him and yelling at him. ‘Let’s talk now,’ because there was so much trash talk. It was an emotionally charged fight and I think he might have lost one round in that fight where Conor got the best of him standing. But other than that, his whole career is just domination.”
As it turns out, Nurmagomedov did surrender a round to ‘Mystic Mac’ during their record-breaking battle at UFC 229. ‘The Eagle’ took the first two rounds handily, but McGregor got the best of the Dagestani in the third, taking the round 10-9. Of course, we all know what happened in the fourth round.
UFC just dropped extended cage audio and Khabib truly HATED Conor McGregor pic.twitter.com/QWhmiy3Eoz
— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) July 15, 2024
Joe Rogan Recalls Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Controversial Decision Win Against Gleison Tibau
While it may have been the only time Nurmagomedov surrendered a round in his illustrious career, many believe he should be 28-1 instead of undefeated.
“There was one fight earlier in his career that he had with Gleison Tibau that was a controversial fight, but that was very early in his career,” Rogan recalled.
During their clash at UFC 147 in July 2012, Tibau stuffed all 13 of Nurmagomedov’s takedown attempts and even landed one of his own. He also outstruck ‘The Eagle’ throughout the three-round affair. Rogan, who had a cageside seat for the fight, said during the third round that “Gleison at this point in the game just simply seems to be the better fighter” before later declaring that Nurmagomedov “probably will lose by a decision if nothing changes in the next 50 seconds or so.”
Instead, all three judges scored the fight in favor of Nurmagomedov, awarding him every round.
Looking back on the bout during a more recent conversation with President-elect Donald Trump, Rogan revisited the controversial decision.
“He might have lost to Gleison Tibau, he might have lost to him,” Rogan told Trump. “He might have lost a round and that was a controversial fight where people feel that Gleison Tibau could have actually got the decision in that fight, I’d have to go back and watch it again to make a decision.”
Watch the full JRE clip below:
