Daniel Cormier’s decorated career gives his opinions immense weight, especially when the two-division UFC champion and Hall of Famer calls a fighter ‘impossible’ to beat. But his latest claim about his former teammate isn’t just high praise; it’s his statement of invincibility that even Cormier’s greatest rivals never earned.

“Khabib’s mindset is nothing you’ve ever seen before in your life,” said Cormier in an interview with Prince St. Pizza. “Sometimes you wonder how a guy will do, but with Khabib, it was never a question. He was always going to be a champion. He was not getting beat.

If they let you bring a chrome bat with you to the octagon, that is how you were going to beat him. Because he was good, he knew exactly what he was going to do, you knew exactly what he was going to do, but it didn’t matter.”

The fighter in question is none other than Khabib Nurmagomedov. Hailing from Dagestan, ‘The Eagle’ entered the leading MMA promotion with a lot of hype in 2012. And he delivered to those expectations. After becoming the UFC lightweight champion, Nurmagomedov bowed out with an unblemished record of 29-0 and took his retirement.

Surely, these stats reflect Nurmagomedov’s stature as a fighter. But does that make him invincible? Maybe, maybe not. However, Daniel Cormier‘s take comes more from the close ties he shared with the former undisputed UFC lightweight champion. Whenever ‘The Eagle’ is in the United States, the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA), based in San Jose, California, is his training base.

Even to this date, whenever his disciples, including Islam Makhachev, fight in the US, Nurmagomedov makes AKA the training base. However, during his fighting years, Cormier was also a part of the San Jose-based gym. And that is when he has observed Nurmagomedov’s skillset and mindset as a fighter more closely.

Like Cormier, many other UFC legends sang praises of ‘The Eagle’. Take Georges St-Pierre, for example, who hails Nurmagomedov as the greatest MMA fighter of all time. Apart from that, there are a few, such as Conor McGregor, who also seemingly disagree with those statements. And the reason behind that is their feud against each other.

Speaking about that rivalry, although Nurmagomedov won, did McGregor have any chance to take the victory in that fight? And Cormier also shared his two cents to answer this buzzing question.

Cormier on Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor fight

Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor fought each other to settle their beef at UFC 229 in 2018. Both fighters headed into that bout in peak form, but in MMA, style always plays a big factor. And that was quite evident in that bout.

Nurmagomedov utilized his wrestling pedigree to its absolute best to beat ‘The Notorious’ via submission in round four. But in a hypothetical situation, if McGregor had a similar prowess in wrestling as in boxing, could he have defeated ‘The Eagle”? Daniel Cormier believes no.

“I think the boxing, going away to box, hurt him because it made him a better boxer,” said Cormier in the aforementioned interview. “But being away from all those other areas of mixed martial arts, it’s hard to really train for a short period of time when Khabib never did.

Here’s the thing, though, [Conor McGregor] still wouldn’t have beaten him just because of his style… He just has a style that would always be difficult for Conor, right? The wrestling, the top pressure, the cardio, like all those things.”

According to Daniel Cormier, the technicalities and the fight IQ that ‘The Eagle’ has are what make him unique. Of course, that is a sentiment not everyone would agree with, as opinions can be subjective. But what do you think about Nurmagomedov’s stature as an MMA fighter? Was he invincible? Let us know in the comments below!