Khabib Nurmagomedov has remained Islam Makhachev’s mentor for most of his career. However, after Makhachev created history at the Madison Square Garden arena by becoming the first-ever two-division champion, fans started asking: has the Dagestani powerhouse actually surpassed his mentor’s legacy? Well, if we evaluate Makhachev’s record against Khabib’s, a clear argument can be made that he has indeed surpassed ‘The Eagle’ in terms of achievements. But Henry Cejudo does not believe that the student has truly surpassed the mentor.

During his lightweight championship reign, Islam Makhachev defended the belt four times, breaking Khabib Nurmagomedov and Benson Henderson’s shared record of three. Following that run, the 34-year-old moved up to face Jack Della Maddalena to become a two-division champ, and he fulfilled his dream with complete domination. So it can be said that aside from maintaining an unblemished record, Makhachev has toppled Khabib’s legacy. Still, former champions like Henry Cejudo believe the Dagestani would lose in a head-to-head fight against his mentor, despite accepting that Makhachev has a better legacy in numbers.  

Henry Cejudo backs Khabib Nurmagomedov to beat Islam Makhachev  in a fight 

In the Pound 4 Pound podcast, former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman opened the conversation by asking, “Is Islam’s legacy greater than Khabib’s legacy?” To this, ‘Triple C’ answered without any hesitation, “Yes. Just out of pure merit. 100% title defenses, a two-weight division thing. But it’s ironic, bro, if they were to fight, Khabib would beat him. And he said it himself.”

Makhachev has never actually accepted that Khabib would beat him in a fight. In fact, he stated in September, “Nobody can stop Khabib in the cage. Not even me.” Both have mostly refrained from drawing any comparisons to each other. However, if we look at this matchup properly from a stylistic point of view, ‘The Eagle’ does present his mentee with some problems on the ground.

Khabib Nurmagomedov is known for taking down opponents at will, but what makes him special is his ability to control his adversaries in a way that allows him to attack from different angles. Sure, he often searches for submissions, but on top of that, ‘The Eagle’ also focuses heavily on ground-and-pound shots, unlike Makhachev, who clearly prefers to submit people, especially with the D’Arce choke.

So in a fight, if Khabib takes Islam down, he could definitely deal damage even without chasing a submission finish. If that’s not enough, their head coach also revealed how ‘The Eagle’ was actually better than Islam at one point, mentioning the way their sparring sessions used to go. Honestly, that’s the closest information we have to knowing who would’ve won in a real fight.

Javier Mendez told Helen Yee in a 2021 interview, “The person is Islam Makhachev. He’s the only person that’s ever won a round against Khabib. Ever. He’s the only one that’s ever done it. No one beat Khabib in a round in the nine years he’s been with me. Never.” 

Now, with Mendez revealing that the Dagestani icon used to get the better of his protégé, it actually strengthens Cejudo’s claim, suggesting that if both men were in their primes, the showdown would have been much closer. However, while ‘Triple C’ firmly believes Makhachev has passed Khabib Nurmagomedov in terms of legacy, he still isn’t fully convinced about calling him the greatest of all time. 

Henry Cejudo makes his stance clear on the Dagestani champion’s GOAT status 

To some fans, Islam Makhachev winning championships in two different divisions already fulfills the criteria for calling him one of the sport’s greatest of all time. But Henry Cejudo thinks the Dagestani still needs more work to earn that status. Why? Because the former two-division champion believes a win over Jack Della Maddalena shouldn’t serve as the final test before Makhachev gets labeled the GOAT.

Continuing on the Pound 4 Pound podcast, Cejudo said, “I’ll put him right now in the top 10. But listen to me, why? Because he still needs to defend that title. Once you can defend that title, you can probably slide him now into the top 5. But not until… You could become a champion against Jack Della Maddalena. Let’s talk about how JDM was caught into the title [fight] because he was number 5 or 6 at that time, and somebody was hurt.”

Here, the former UFC champ pointed out exactly how Jack Della Maddalena earned his title shot in the first place. He explained that the Aussie received the opportunity at UFC 315 only after Shavkat Rakhmonov suffered an injury, even though ‘JDM’ held the number 4 ranking at that time, and was scheduled to face Leon Edwards at UFC London. Moreover, he didn’t question Della Maddalena’s credibility, but Cejudo clearly highlighted that the former 170-pound champ never faced a pressure grappler like Kamaru Usman or Rakhmonov.

He added, “He beat the crap out of Belal Muhammad, because Belal Muhammad wanted to do the Canelo hands. Like, you know what I’m saying… did he beat a Shavkat? Did he beat a Kamaru Usman to get to that title? And that changes everything.”

With that argument in mind, the ex-two-weight champion firmly stated that Makhachev must defend the title before anyone can fully call him the GOAT.  “All right now, let’s see what the next best thing is. Can you defend?” Cejudo further added. 

Well, if Islam Makhachev ends up defending the welterweight belt one or two times, then he could become one of the greatest fighters the sport has ever seen. But would he be the greatest ever? Let us know in the comments section below.