Kamaru Usman believes former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is on a different level compared to the newly-crowned king, Charles Oliveira.
Oliveira TKO’d Michael Chandler in the second round in the UFC 262 main event to win the belt, which was vacated by Khabib in February, four months after he officially announced his retirement after successfully defending his title against Justin Gaethje at UFC 254.
“Khabib Is A Different Level”
Since Oliveira’s UFC 262 triumph, social media has been abuzz with discussions over who would win in a potential fight between him and Khabib, since it’s such an intriguing matchup.
Speaking to TMZ Sports (as transcribed by BJPenn.com) however, Usman said that although he’s a big fan of ‘Do Bronx’, he doesn’t think the new champion has what it takes to beat ‘The Eagle’.
“For the ones who truly know, [they] know what would happen in that fight,” Usman said. “More power to Charles Oliveira. I’m impressed by him and I’m a fan of what he’s been able to do in his career. But I just think there are levels to the game and I think Khabib is a different level.”
Happily Retired
Usman is positive that Khabib would have watched the UFC 262 main event this past weekend, but doesn’t think we’ll see the Russian return to fight Oliveira.
“I think Khabib did watch the fight,” Usman said. “Was he intrigued and thinking, ‘Hey I want to get back in there’ … probably not. He’s a man that’s happy. He’s happy with his life. He’s happy with the direction that it’s gone, and yeah, I think he’s retired.”
Oliveira will most likely make his first title defence against the winner of Dustin Poirier vs Conor McGregor 3, set to take place in the main event at UFC 264 on July 10th. However, Beneil Dariush, who jumped up six places to number three after dominating Tony Ferguson in the UFC 262 co-main event, has also thrown his name into the mix.
Do you think we’d ever see Khabib Nurmagomedov come out of retirement to fight Charles Oliveira?
See also:
