Islam Makhachev Only Needs 3 Things to Beat Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Legacy

UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev is Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s successor in the truest sense. Both hail from Dagestan and started training under Khabib’s father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, and have the same base, combat sambo. However, Makhachev, while once firmly under Khabib’s shadow, has come into his own and is well on his way to carving a corner for himself in UFC history. The most apparent illustration of this is his fighting style, which has seen an increasing role of his striking, which many feel is already better than ‘The Eagle’s ever was.

In other aspects, too Makhachev is catching up to Khabib, and there are three particular ones, in which he needs to overtake ‘The Eagle’ to compete with the latter’s legacy. As the reigning champion sets up to face Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 on June 1, we take a look at these three aspects one by one.

Islam Makhachev needs a few more title defenses on his record

The very first title defense Khabib Nurmagomedov made after winning the UFC LW title (against Al Iaquinta at UFC 223 in 2018) is the most commercially successful fight in all of MMA. The Dagestani, having won the title in April 2018, was scheduled to face Conor McGregor at the historic UFC 229 bout that same October. Then-champ continued his stellar run of form, managing to dominate most of the fight (except for the third round, which McGregor won) and submitting the Irishman with a neck crank in the fourth round.

For his second title defense, ‘The Eagle’ faced Dustin Poirier. Following Nurmagomedov attacking ‘Mac’s corner at UFC 229, he was awarded a nine-month suspension by the NYAC. During this suspension, Dustin Poirier defeated Max Holloway to become the interim lightweight champion and got a shot at the Dagestani after his sentence ended at UFC 242.

The interim and undisputed champions faced each other at UFC 242, and despite ‘Diamond’ scaring Nurmagomedov fans by catching him in one of his famous guillotines, he was submitted by the champ in the same round. Nurmagomedov’s final title defense came in his last fight against Justin Gaethje at UFC 254, where he tearfully bid adieu to the sport owing to a promise he made his mother after his father’s death the same year.

‘The Highlight’ didn’t prove much of a challenge, either, and submitted to a second-round triangle choke in ‘The Eagle’s last fight ever. Makhachev, on the other hand, has defended his title twice- both times against then-featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski. After Makhachev defeated Charles Oliveira at UFC 280 two years ago, Khabib Nurmagomedov, who was cornering his friend and fellow Dagestani, called for a clash against Volkanovski from the octagon.

The reason behind this was simple. ‘Volk’ was ranked #2 on the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings and Makhachev and Nurmagomedov wanted the reigning champ to be the new P4P king. The UFC 284 bout between Alexander Volkanovski and Islam Makhachev was surprisingly closer than expected. While the Dagestani eventually won via a unanimous decision, Volkanovski did surprisingly well and finished the bout with Makhachev on his back, being ground and pounded by the Aussie.

Owing to the close nature of their first contest, many, including Joe Rogan felt that the Aussie should have won the bout. In addition, Volkanovski maintained his position at the top of the pound-for-pound rankings, to Makhachev and Nurmagomedov’s understandable chagrin. However, Makhachev changed this and silenced his critics in their UFC 294 rematch. The Dagestani set up the now 35-year-old and caught him with a KO-TKO, to emerge victorious and then occupy number 1 place on the P4P rankings.

1 win away from breaking Khabib Nurmagomedov’s winning streak record

While Makhachev seems close to equalling Nurmagomedov’s title defense count, that is not the case for one simple reason: Makhachev is yet to face a fellow 155-pounder since he became champ, which is in sharp contrast to ‘The Eagle’s title reign, which saw him take on three of the most dangerous lightweights in the division.

One of the reasons Khabib Nurmagomedov is considered one of the greatest to ever do it is because of his undefeated record, which is a huge achievement in MMA (especially the UFC), where the best fight the best. The Eagle fought a total of 13 times in the UFC and won all of them in more or less dominant fashion. And Makhachev is very close to pipping his childhood friend and predecessor’s UFC streak, as he is on a thirteen-fight win streak in the UFC. A win in his UFC 302 clash against Poirier will see him break ‘The Eagle’s 13-win UFC streak.

The UFC lightweight champ doesn’t have PPV sales like ‘The Eagle’

Even if he manages to overtake Nurmagomedov at UFC 302, there is one aspect where Islam Makhachev lags far, far behind Nurmagomedov: PPV sales. ‘The Eagle’, of course, has the distinction of being involved in the biggest, most commercially successful fight in MMA history. Fans will remember the historically contentious and acerbic build-up to his UFC 229 clash against Conor McGregor (which many consider the best in MMA history) during which the verbose, outspoken Irishman proceeded to insult Nurmagomedov’s family, and country.

While some saw this as crossing a line — even for the bombastic and irreverent McGregor — it did successfully set up the perfect storyline for their fight: good vs. bad; the loud-mouthed, arrogant superstar vs. the respectful, soft-spoken brawler. And the result was that UFC 229 did over 2.4  million pay-per-view buys, the most for a UFC event.

On the other hand, Makhachev does not have any of the cards headlined by him in even the top 10 of the UFC’s most successful PPV cards. And even as he looks poised to beat Nurmagomedov in accolades inside the octagon, the PPV buy figure is what he will find the hardest to break.

Do you think Islam Makhachev can surpass his mentor’s legacy? Drop your views in the comments below.