While fans might be debating whether Khabib Nurmagomedov deserves to be called the greatest of all time or not, there is certainly no debate on how dominant he was inside the Octagon. Although he fought less than half of his total fights inside the UFC banner, ‘The Eagle’ still maintained a squeaky-clean record, retiring with an undefeated record.

Khabib’s final UFC opponent, Justin Gaethje, who’s known to be one of the most violent fighters MMA has ever seen, opened up on what fighting ‘The Eagle’ was like. Being one of those who failed to rattle the Dagestani phenom, even though ‘The Highlight’ was one of the two fighters to win a round against Nurmagomedov, Gaethje admitted there was no one ‘tougher’ than the 29-0 UFC Hall of Famer.

“I think Khabib was probably the one who I felt [was the toughest]. Even if I performed better, I’m not sure I could have beat him on that night specifically,” Justin Gaethje revealed during a Q&A session on his YouTube channel. “So that night that I fought Khabib, I’d say that he was my toughest opponent to date.” Gaethje then turned his attention to another fan question, and this time, he was asked about his dream fight.

While some may think it would have been someone like Georges St-Pierre or a legend from the past. But the former BMF champion wants a taste of the current great, Khabib’s protégé, Islam Makhachev. Guess what? Justin Gaethje fancies his chances of getting the better of the lightweight champion, who’s been an unstoppable force in the 155-pound division. “I wanna fight Makhachev. He is the champ, and I do believe that is a better matchup for me than Khabib,” ‘The Highlight added.

Well, even Khabib Nurmagomedov has great things to say about Justin Gaethje as he called the former BMF champion the hardest hitter he’s ever fought. “He hit like truck,” that’s what ‘The Eagle’ had to say about Gaethje. But did you know that the Hall of Famer recently suggested ‘The Highlight’ should retire? Let’s take a look at that front.

Khabib Nurmagomedov called Justin Gaethje, among others, as ‘old school’

There are some fighters, who are in the twilight stages of their careers, and a few of them are in the lightweight division itself. While Dustin Poirier has announced his next fight will be the last, Khabib Nurmagomedov claimed last December that ‘The Diamond’, Tony Ferguson, and Justin Gaethje should consider retiring. But why? Well, Nurmagomedov believes that the lightweight division should embrace new, credible, and ‘real’ contenders instead of veterans.

“Justin Gaethje, Khabib, Dustin Poirier, Tony Ferguson. This is old school, brother. Stop fighting. We have to recognize the real things,” Khabib Nurmagomedov said on the ‘Pound 4 Pound’ podcast. Well, the call for Tony Ferguson’s retirement isn’t a novel thing because ‘El Cucuy’ continues to be active even after bidding farewell to the UFC recently. As for Justin Gaethje, he had already announced previously that this is his last run, so it remains to be seen if he can win the title sooner given that he’s already 36 years old.

Well, let us know what you think about Justin Gaethje’s confession about Khabib Nurmagomedov and putting himself out there for the fight against Islam Makhcahev in the comments down below.