Khabib Nurmagomedov has been out of action for the past four years. Ever since he retired in 2020 following his father’s death and a subsequent promise he made to his mother, many feel the Dagestani former UFC lightweight champ hung up his gloves too soon and didn’t quite cement his legacy, which was en route to becoming one of the GOATs of the sport.

The reason behind this, of course, was the absolute dominance with which ‘The Eagle’ defeated nearly all the opponents put in front of him. Retiring with an undefeated record of 29-0 at the age of 32 in the UFC’s most competitive division, fans feel that Nurmagomedov still had a lot to offer the sport.

While he did continue to coach others after his retirement, the Dagestani completely divorced himself from the sport last year to concentrate on his family life. But the former champ still has the killer instinct. A clear indication of this came as he was seen dominating an active fighter on the mat.

A recent clip has emerged of ‘The Eagle’ grappling with undefeated pro-MMA fighter Magomed Zaynukov. The former UFC champ could be seen using his legendary strength and exceptional grappling abilities to virtually rag-doll his fellow Dagestani.

And while Nurmagomedov may have retired almost half a decade ago, he still enjoys the kind of popularity reserved for a handful of the sport’s biggest stars. Which is why the video was seized upon by fans, who took to the comments section of the Instagram post to let their thoughts known.

Fans react to Khabib’s rag-dolling opponent

UFC welterweight star Belal Muhammad, who will fight for the title at UFC 304 a few weeks from now, was tickled at the whole affair and simply commented: “😂.” One Instagram user echoed fan sentiment and observed that: “The Eagle’s still got it.”

Another was struck at the former champ’s ability to effortlessly control his opponent and felt that Dagestani was perhaps the greatest ever wrestler in the UFC: “He knows exactly what to control. Best wrestler that was in the ufc I think.” One fan made the eyebrow-raising claim that the current version of Nurmagomedov (who is considerably heavier than the 155 pounds he used to fight at) would even beat light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira in a grappling match: “This khabib submits pereira in MMA.”

Another fan agreed with this sentiment and felt that the heavier version of Nurmagomedov would clean up three divisions above his 155-pound lightweight division: “He d be welterweight, middleweight and light heavyweight champion!”