Daniel Cormier believes Khabib Nurmagomedov could have emulated Floyd Mayweather and reached 50-0 in MMA has he not retired a year ago.
On October 24 2020, ‘The Eagle’ placed his gloves on the Octagon floor and called time on his career just moments after submitting Justin Gaethje.
Khabib walked away from the sport with an immaculate record of 29-0 having never really shown any signs of struggle in his entire career.
Yet, after the death of his father in the summer of 2020, the Russian made a promise to his mother to never fight again and honour his memory.
Cormier trained alongside Khabib at the American Kickboxing Academy in California and witnessed the Dagestani evolve into the greatest fighter on the planet, before walking away at the peak of his powers.
And the former two-weight world champion believes the 33-year-old would have continued to remain unbeaten for as long as he continued to fight.
“A year ago today the GOAT walked away from the game undefeated, undisputed champion of the world,” Cormier wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “Miss these times brother and can’t wait to see you in Abu Dhabi.
“He could have gone 40-0, 50-0 or whatever he chose, he chose 29. No one was beating this man. @TeamKhabib #weareAKA”
Mayweather infamously retired from boxing with a perfect 50-0 record himself after stopping Conor McGregor, an adversary he shares with Khabib.
The two men were actually speculated to fight with a reported $100million purse on the table, something Khabib rejected as he explained to Mike Tyson on his ‘Hotboxin’ podcast.
“I don’t wanna make boxing community upset with me,” Nurmagomedov said.
“Of course money makes sense too. But I never fight for money. Money is good, but most of the time it is bad. Money brings you to the situation that you have never been, and you don’t know how to act when you have so much money.
“It is a little bit dangerous. In this business, I don’t come to make money. I come here for legacy.”