UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomedov has explained why fans can’t compare his success to current lightweight king Charles Oliveira.

While he may not be the champion, Charles Oliveira is widely considered to be the best active lightweight on the planet. In contrast, Khabib Nurmagomedov is viewed as the greatest lightweight of all-time – with some arguing he’s still technically in the prime of his career, despite being retired.

A lot of folks have been comparing the two as of late due to the success Oliveira has been experiencing in the division. It’s an innocent enough conversation, but in an interview with ESPN, Khabib wasn’t happy about it.

“He impresses me a little bit, but every fight he goes down. This is a little bit bad for him, every fight he goes down, a couple times. Last fight was how many, two, three knockdown? With Michael Chandler, with Dustin Poirier, with Justin Gaethje, he always goes down.”

“Nobody ever touched my face, and all the time he go down, people cannot compare me vs Charles Oliveira, he tap [lost] in UFC eight times, please, come on. Jim Miller, Anthony Pettis, Holloway, Felder, like, it was Charles Oliveira, it was not Khabib. If you wanna deserve name like greatest lightweight, you have to beat Islam, Beneil, couple more guys, and then we can talk.”

It’s still very unlikely that we’re ever going to see Oliveira and Khabib square off in the Octagon due to how strict the man from Dagestan is being with his retirement. Still, that doesn’t mean fans have to stop dreaming about what it would look like – especially with ‘The Eagle’ getting so fired up about it.

Do you agree with Khabib Nurmagomedov when it comes to the Charles Oliveira comparisons? Is there even a slim chance we’ll see them fight one day?