Khabib Nurmagomedov fought the UFC’s best during his legendary career, but none quite hit him like Justin Gaethje.
Nurmagomedov went as far as to say that Gaethje ‘hit like a ‘truck’ when the pair met at UFC 254 in October 2020.
‘The Eagle’ shockingly retired from MMA with a perfect 29-0 record after submitting Gaethje in two rounds to unify the lightweight division.
He had already effectively cleaned out the very best at 155 pounds, having choked out Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier in his previous two fights.
Despite overcoming McGregor’s renowned lethal left hand and Poirier’s impeccable boxing, the 35-year-old has repeatedly insisted it was Gaethje who hit him harder than anyone else.
“[Justin Gaethje] hit like a truck,” Nurmagomedov said on Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson in August 2021.
“Nobody hit me harder than Justin Gaethje. His kick, his punch, his left hook, right hook, right uppercut.
“I made him hit me. When I went to the cage and I was sitting like, ‘Okay, I’m going to go, I’m going to bring him into the deep ocean.
”I’m going to make him tired in stand-up and I’m going to bring him to the ground and finish him.”
Nurmagomedov named Gaethje as his hardest-hitting opponent two years later before explaining how he broke ‘The Highlight’.
“He hits like a truck, but it was one thing that broke him,” the Russian fighting legend explained to Patrick Bet-David.
“When he hit me, I remember it was a right uppercut and left hook. It was his best shot and I told him, ‘Brother, is this everything you have?’
“I like Justin Gaethje and I was talking to him. After this combination, I told him, ‘This is everything you have.’ And at the end of the first round, he started to get tired.
“I told him, ‘This is jetlag because you came to Abu Dhabi one week before the fight. I have been here one month.’
“I know where I was after one week because it is desert, and you have to be there at least a couple of weeks before the fight.
“Inside the cage, I told him, ‘Brother, you have jetlag.’”
Nurmagomedov’s victory over Gaethje made it three successive submission wins in a row, having also done the same to McGregor and Poirier.
Poirier, who makes his last UFC appearance this weekend, had just defeated Max Holloway to become the interim lightweight champion in a fight ‘The Diamond’ has admitted is one of the proudest moments in his career.
He was choked out by Nurmagomedov in the third round, and has since shared the octagon with a host of legends.
Five years later, he meets Holloway for the third time in a retirement bout at UFC 318.
The two veterans will throw down in The Diamond’s hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Poirier has already defeated Holloway twice during his career, but insists he’s not looking back at those victories for motivation.
“You grow in this sport – we’re not the same people,” he said.
“We’ve wasted years if we’re still the same people. You do things better, smarter, with your recovery, with your technique, with everything.
“That’s why I’m not looking back on our second fight or even our first fight way back. This is a completely new fight.”