UFC icon and former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov will go down in history as one of the greatest mixed martial artists to ever grace the octagon. The Dagestani native bid adieu to the world of combat sports after his clash with Justin Gaethje last year at UFC 254.

Looking back at his time in MMA, the former champ dominated his opponents from start to finish. There was hardly an opponent who had troubled him in his matches. However, the one thing that never changed with Khabib, was that he showed admiration for his opponents after he won those fights (well, at least most of them).

Recently, he appeared for an interview where one reporter praised him for showing respect to his opponents. He then asked Khabib about who was the hardest fighter to hurt.

“Out of all of them… I think, my last opponent,” Khabib replied. “Well, I can point out two of them- Justin Gaethje and Michael Johnson. When I trapped his (Johnson’s) hand and went for Kimura, I could have broken his arm. I told him to give up two or three times.”

He added, “I was executing the move very carefully because if you break an arm that way, it will never be the same. So I was very careful, rolling it very slowly and just asked him to give up.”

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Khabib Nurmagomedov on fighting with Justin Gaethje

Khabib (29-0) was the undisputed lightweight champion heading into his fight against Gaethje. The latter had earned his shot for the title after he defeated ‘El Cucuy’ Tony Ferguson for the interim lightweight title at UFC 249.

‘The Eagle’ successfully defended his crown eventually as he caught ‘The Highlight’ in a triangle choke. With that win, he announced his retirement from the sport.

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Talking about the fight, Khabib detailed why it was hard for him to hurt Gaethje. “As for Justin. First I went for his arm, and only then I moved onto the triangle choke,” he said.

“I realized, he would not give up, and I didn’t want to cripple his hand, so I went for the triangle choke. His parents were there in attendance, his father, his mother… in the front row. Footage doesn’t show it, but when I entered the cage, I could see them sitting there and looking at me,” he added.

Following the conclusion of his fighting career, he has taken up more of a background role with other ventures. These include the launch of his own MMA promotion (Eagle FC) and constant teases about a switch to soccer. Hence, somehow or the other, he has kept his fans guessing about his next move.

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What did you make of Khabib’s revelation about Johnson?