Islam Makhachev has a chance to make history on Saturday if he defeats Arman Tsarukyan in the UFC 311 main event.
A win would mark Makhachev’s fourth consecutive title defense at 155 pounds, which would set a new record surpassing his coach and mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov after he retired with three straight defenses of the lightweight belt. Of course, Nurmagomedov also left the sport with a perfect 29-0 record, and barely losing any rounds during his career, and that’s why he’s largely considered the greatest lightweight to compete in MMA.
But if Makhachev surpasses Nurmagomedov’s title defense record, does he usurp “The Eagle” as the best lightweight in the history of the sport?
“It’s a very subjective thing, especially where they’re at right now,” Matt Brown explained on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “Like Jon Jones is to the point where there’s not a lot of debate. The only debate is steroid stuff. That’s literally your only argument of him being the greatest of all time or not. When you look at his record, he’s the greatest of all time. Period. It’s just a fact.
“But I think Islam — if he beats Arman — he’s still in that phase where there’s some debate.”
While it’s unlikely that Makhachev or Nurmagomedov really care much about who sits atop that mythical list, it’s still an argument amongst fans, fighters and media about who deserves to be touted as the greatest of all time.
Perhaps the biggest argument working against Makhachev would be the lone loss on his record from 2015 whereas Nurmagomedov retired undefeated.
But Brown doesn’t buy that losses truly diminish an overall resume, especially when you begin drilling down to details like the level of competition somebody faces or the type of dominance displayed while putting together a championship reign.
Look no further than the sport of boxing where Floyd Mayweather retired with a perfect 50-0 record, and while there are those who would argue that he is the greatest of all time, many experts still put legends such as “Sugar” Ray Robinson or Muhammad Ali atop those lists despite numerous defeats on their records.
“For me, personally, the losses don’t take away from that,” Brown said. “You can’t say [Islam] had a loss and [Khabib] didn’t. You lose when you fight above your level. If Khabib would have fought B.J. Penn for his debut pro fight, B.J. probably would have beat him.
“If you’re fighting guys at your level or below, you win and if you fight guys above your level, you lose. When you get to the top, now you’re fighting for the title, you’re the best in the world, now it comes to title defenses for the greatest of all-time. We certainly have to put Islam in that conversation. If anything, the loss shows me you can work through some adversity.”
Brown believes on a long enough timeline just about every fighter in MMA is probably going to experience a defeat at one time or another. In Makhachev’s case, that came earlier in his UFC career while Nurmagomedov retired in the prime of his career at 29-0 so it’s impossible to know what might have happened if he continued fighting.
“In this sport, everybody has a weakness,” Brown said. “If you fight long enough, you will lose. That’s the game. You fight often enough, enough people, you put yourself out there enough, you will lose.
“With all the credit we give to Jon Jones, at heavyweight he has picked his fights. At light heavyweight, there’s arguments he lost a couple of those fights. So the losses aren’t really to me what’s going to discredit someone from being in that greatest of all-time argument.”
When it comes specifically to Makhachev’s standing at lightweight, Brown doesn’t see how anyone could disregard him with one more title defense while also adding another top-ranked fighter like Tsarukyan to his resume.
Obviously, Makhachev could turn a few more heads if he goes out and mauls Tsarukyan like he’s done so many past opponents, but Brown believes any kind of win should earn him that recognition to stand shoulder to shoulder with someone like Nurmagomedov.
“For me personally, Islam wins this fight, he is at the top of that list,” Brown said. “Then you’ve got to look into the nitty gritty details of him versus Khabib, who’s greater, or maybe B.J. still. I think there’s a good argument that B.J. was the greatest [lightweight] ever.”
“Especially if [Islam] beats Arman, he’s definitely in the debate. It becomes a debate. We’re debating nitty gritty details, right? We’ll see how he looks against Arman, different things like that. Because it’s going to come down to the details.”
