In an Instagram post, Islam Makhachev expressed a completely crazy opinion about his long-time partner Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Islam Makhachev on IG 🗣️
“Today I was asked in one of my interviews: ‘Can Khabib come back and beat Strickland?’ I can say with confidence that he would easily do it. Almost three years have past since Khabib finished his career, but he never misses a workout.”#UFC294 #UFC… pic.twitter.com/tsFaxfI4oA
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) October 17, 2023
Retired 29-0 since October 24, 2020 and his submission victory over Justin Geathje, Khabib Nurmagomedov left at the top of his game and is undoubtedly one of the greatest fighters in UFC history.
That said, although retired, the former lightweight champion continues to keep in shape, he is currently training alongside Islam Makhachev in view of the latter’s fight against Alexander Volkanovski this Saturday, October 21 in the main event of UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi.
Moreover, the current lightweight champion posted a video this Tuesday of himself training alongside Khabib, he accompanies this video with a pretty crazy little text:
“Today I was asked this question in one of my interviews: ‘Can Khabib come back and beat Strickland?’ I can say with confidence that he would do it easily. Almost three years have passed since Khabib retired, but he never misses a workout. »
A statement which testifies to the great respect Islam Makhachev has for his friend, but which still remains quite crazy. Sean Strickland is the champion of the middleweight category, i.e. -84 kg. When he was still competing, Khabib was “only” crowned in the -70 kg category, two categories below that of Strickland. So, it’s hard to imagine him winning a middleweight title after three years of absence, even if he made a huge cut to move up to lightweight.
