Fantasy Head-to-Toe Breakdown: Islam Makhachev vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov

Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has long been considered one of the best fighters in the division's history—and arguably one of the greatest fighters ever, regardless of weight class. Current lightweight champ Islam Makhachev, meanwhile, has long been hailed as Nurmagomedov's second coming.

In the early days of Makhachev's UFC career, that comparison was harder to justify. There was certainly no denying his talent, but Nurmagomedov's legacy was already set in stone, while Makhachev simply had a ton to accomplish if he hoped to reach his long-time friend and training partner's level.

In 2025, comparisons between Nurmagomedov and Makhachev are very easy to justify. In fact, it's arguably that Makhachev has even surpassed his predecessor. At the very least, he now has more title defenses than Nurmagomedov, at four.

Of course, we'll never know which of them is truly better. Even if they had reached the top of the lightweight division at the same time, they are loyal enough to one another that they never would have agreed to fight.

That means that the best we can do when trying to figure out who's better is speculate based on the information available.

Khabib Nurmagomedov is definitely one of the greatest fighters of all time, but the retired legend was never known for his striking. Only eight of his career wins came via strikes, and most of those were on the ground.

Only two of his strike-induced stoppages, meanwhile, occurred in the UFC. Yes, his striking improved a lot over the course of his career in the Octagon—enough that he famously dropped Conor McGregor in their 2018 mega fight—but it was never anything more than a complement to his world-class grappling.

Not so for Makhachev.

Even in the early phases of his MMA career, Makhachev showed significantly better Muay Thai than Nurmagomedov, and he has only gotten better in that area in recent years. While he actually has fewer knockout or TKO victories than his training partner, at five, he has more than proved himself as an elite striker by knocking out Alexander Volkanovski and then slugging it out with Dustin Poirier in back-to-back fights. He may not be a knockout artist, per se, but he can strike with the best of them.

There's really no point debating. In terms of striking, he is Makhachev's better by a significant margin.

Edge: Makhachev

This is where things get interesting.

Nurmagomedov and Makhachev are both world-class when it comes to submissions.

Over the course of his career, Nurmagomedov won 11 of his 29 victories by submission, which works out to a submission rate of 37 percent. During his time in the Octagon specifically, he attempted 0.8 submissions per 15 minutes in the Octagon, according to UFCStats.com.

He succeeded on a number of his attempts, most notably against a trio of top-level foes in Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje in his final three fights. That's all pretty impressive, but Makhachev's record on the mat is a little more impressive still.

Makhachev has finished 13 of his 27 victories by submission, which gives him a submission rate of 48 percent—which is very good. In the UFC, he also attempts more submissions per 15 minutes than Nurmagomedov did, at 1.1.

Those figures are all the more impressive when you consider the people he's submitted. Nurmagomedov submitting McGregor, Poirier and Gaethje was certainly a feat, but Makhachev tapped out Charles Oliveira, who is arguably the best submission artist in MMA history. He's also submitted high-level grapplers like Renato Moicano (who he beat inside a round at UFC 311 last weekend), Poirier, Dan Hooker and Thiago Moises.

It's close—and once again, it's impossible to really say for sure—but we've got to give the advantage to Makhachev.

Edge: Makhachev

Makhachev and Nurmagomedov are both great at submissions. They're even better at wrestling. In fact, both easily rank among the best wrestlers we've ever seen in MMA, thanks in large part to the training they got under Nurmagomedov's late father Abdulmanap in Dagestan.

But who's better? That's hard to say. When we're talking about striking or jiu jitsu, we can just count how many knockouts or submissions they both have on their record, and go from there. It's not that easy with wrestling.

One factor worth considering is control time. Both Nurmagomedov and Makhachev have a lot of it in the Octagon. In 13 UFC bouts, Nurmagomedov spent a ridiculous 1 hour, 34 minutes and 47 seconds controlling his opponents, according to UFCStats.com.

Makhachev, meanwhile, is quite a ways behind his training partner in this department. He's racked up 1 hour, 22 minutes and 19 seconds of control time in 17 UFC fights, per the same database. That's certainly partly because he finishes more fights than Nurmagomedov, but it's still food for thought.

Another factor worth considering is the amount of takedowns both men completed in the Octagon. Nurmagomedov, for starters, completed 61 takedowns in his 13 UFC bouts—including an absurd 21 in a single fight with Abel Trujillo. Makhachev, meanwhile, has completed 38 takedowns through his 17-fight UFC career. Again, that could be because he's more comfortable striking than Nurmagomedov, but it's still an interesting detail.

All things considered, this is another close one, but we've got to give the advantage to the retired former champ.

Edge: Nurmagomedov

One final factor worth considering as we attempt to determine who would have the upper hand between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev is the quality of their opponents.

While both men faced some shoddy opposition in the early phases of their MMA careers, both ultimately mixed it up with some very high-level opposition.

The best wins on Nurmagomedov's resume are undoubtedly his last three: his submissions of Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor. However, he also holds notable wins over fighters like Al Iaquinta, Edson Barboza and Rafael dos Anjos, who he beat by decision, and Michael Johnson, who he tapped out.

Makhachev's best wins, meanwhile, came against featherweight legend Alexander Volkanovski (twice), Charles Oliveira and Dustin Poirier, while his wins over Renato Moicano, King Green and Dan Hooker are also quite impressive. Outside of his first fight with Volkanovski, which was razor-close, he finished all of those fights—and four in the first round.

Let's assume Nurmagomedov and Makhachev's wins over Poirier cancel out. In that case, it really comes down to whether you find Nurmagomedov's submissions over Gaethje and McGregor more impressive than Makhachev's wins over Volkanovski and Oliveira.

There's really no debate in that regard. McGregor won two titles but never defended one. Gaethje never touched an undisputed belt. Volkanovski, meanwhile, is arguably the greatest featherweight champion in UFC history, while Oliveira tallied two title defenses—against Gaethje and Poirier—before losing his belt to Makhachev.

Again, it's close, but Makhachev has fought better opposition, and he's beaten them more impressively.

Edge: Makhachev

At this point, the evidence increasingly suggests that Islam Makhachev is actually—as hard as it is to believe—better than his legendary mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Maybe if Nurmagomedov had delayed his retirement and picked up a few more wins, we'd be having a different conversation right now, but based on the information we have, it's fair to assume Makhachev would beat his successor, and maybe even finish him.

Prediction: Makhachev wins by decision or late TKO