Record for the number of title defenses and first place in the P4P ranking: what Nurmagomedov can achieve in case of victory over Gatji

13 straight

UFC

wins

In the run up to the fight with Gatji, one of the most talked about topics is Nurmagomedov's ideal track record.

In case of another success, the Russian champion will win the 29th victory in a row in his career and will come close to the mark, upon reaching which he can end his career.

Khabib himself has repeatedly said that he would not mind leaving the sport with a record of 30: 0, and so far there are no preconditions that his plans could change.

However, more curious is the number of Nurmagomedov's straight wins in the UFC.

Already on Saturday, he can bring their number to 13, which will allow him to take the second place in the history of the largest MMA promotion on the planet for this indicator.

In this case, only the legendary Anderson Silva (16) will remain ahead, having not lost for seven years.

During this period, he managed to win the middleweight title and hold a record ten belt defenses at that time.

Taking into account plans for the future, it will be extremely difficult for Nurmagomedov to overtake Silva, but he is quite capable of reaching a clean second place in history.

At the moment it is divided among themselves by John Jones, Georges Saint-Pierre, Max Holloway and Demetrius Johnson.

At the same time, only the legendary Canadian owns the current series.

However, it will be extremely difficult for him to improve his performance.

Indeed, if he returns, he will most likely fight with Khabib.

As for the rest, Jones has won the last 18 battles, but the streak actually ended in 2017.

Then he knocked out Daniel Cormier, but later the fight was declared invalid due to a positive doping test by John himself.

And over the next two years, the remaining competitors stumbled.

In August 2018, Johnson was beaten by Henry Sejudo and subsequently moved to ONE FC, and in April 2019 Holloway was unable to cope with Dustin Poirier.

The Hawaiian missed the chance to become the holder of the interim lightweight title and, in combination, the next rival of Nurmagomedov.

12 straight wins in lightweight division

In his home division, Nurmagomedov has 11 victories in a row and ranks second in this indicator, behind Tony Ferguson.

In April 2016, Khabib returned to the octagon after a two-year absence, on the occasion of which the promotion made a second attempt to arrange for him to meet with El Cucuy.

However, less than two weeks before the fight, he was forced to refuse to compete due to health problems.

The Russian was determined to enter the cage by all means and agreed to fight with the substitute Darrell Horcher.

True, it was decided to hold the fight in the intermediate weight, since he did not have time to meet the category limit in such a short time.

As a result, Nurmagomedov left no chance for the UFC debutant and won confidently, but this triumph was not included in his lightweight performance statistics.

Thus, in the event of a victory over Gatji, he can only catch up with Ferguson, but not set an absolute record.

Three consecutive lightweight title defenses

Among other things, Nurmagomedov will be able to cement his status as one of the greatest champions in lightweight history.

Success at UFC 254 will allow him to bring the number of belt defenses to three, which only three fighters previously managed.

The first of them was BJ Penn, after which Frankie Edgar and Benson Henderson repeated his record.

At first glance, this can hardly be called a serious achievement, because the same Johnson defended the title of the flyweight champion almost four times more often (11).

But you need to understand that lightweight is one of the most competitive in the UFC, as evidenced by the constant change of champions.

Suffice it to say that since Henderson's defeat in 2013, no fighter has managed more than two defenses.

Four lightweight title wins

According to this indicator, the Russian can also come out on top, but only Penn and Henderson will share it with him.

The reason is that Edgar ended one of his defenses in a draw.

The first duel with Gray Maynard turned out to be uncompromising and is rightfully considered one of the brightest in the history of the UFC lightweight division.

During the first round, Frankie was knocked down three times and lost with a score of 8:10, but miraculously managed to recover.

In the remaining sections, he looked much better and avoided a fiasco.

The return battle turned out to be no less exciting.

Edgar started very unsuccessfully again and during the first round he visited the canvas, but managed not only to level the position, but also to knock out Maynard.

Franky hit with a powerful uppercut at the exit of the takedown, after which he finished off the challenger.

Achievements in wrestling

Among other things, Nurmagomedov could solidify his status as one of the greatest wrestling and grappling specialists in the division's history.

So, if Khabib prolongs the series of victories with submissions and can force Justin to knock, he will come out in seventh place in terms of the number of victories with the help of painful or suffocating techniques.

At the moment, Kamal Shalorus, Michael Johnson, Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier are on his list of "victims".

This allows him to tied for tenth place in lightweight submission victories.

The same number in the asset of nine more people, including Gleison Tibau.

Another successful rear naked choke will allow him to catch up with Cole Miller, Beneil Dariush and Michael Chiesa.

At the same time, the leaders in the person of Jim Miller and Charles Oliveira are still very far away.

As for the fight itself, Nurmagomedov has a chance to rise to the second line in the history of the division in terms of the duration of control over an opponent.

At the moment, he dominated opponents for 1 hour 28 minutes 13 seconds and is second only to Tibau (1:39:57) and Clay Guida (1:46:24).

At the same time, the Brazilian had 25 fights in the lightweight division of the UFC, and the American - 22. Behind the aforementioned fighters, he settled down in time in a position from above (1:03:33) and could soon bypass the former counterpart in the person of Gleison (1:11 :thirty).

In addition, Nurmagomedov may approach the category record for the number of successful takedowns.

Earlier, Khabib sent his rivals to the canvas 57 times and already ranks second in history.

Only the same Tibau surpasses him.

His track record includes 84 successful transfers to the ground, one of which was in a face-to-face duel with a Russian.

The first leader of the ranking

Pound-

for-

Pound from Russia

It is possible that future success will help Nurmagomedov not only establish a number of achievements, but also rise to the first place in the ranking of the best UFC fighters, regardless of weight categories.

At the moment, he ranks second and is second only to John Jones, who has not performed since February 2020.

Then the American took over Dominic Reyes in a very close fight, after which he announced the transition to heavyweight and left the light heavyweight title.

Thus, it is difficult to think of a better moment to bypass the ex-champion in the up to 92 kg division and become the first Russian leader in the P4P rating in the history of the Absolute Fighting Championship.

If it is too early for Nurmagomedov to argue with Jones in terms of the total number of achievements, then at the moment he is definitely not inferior to his colleague.

Reputable publications in the world of MMA believe the same.

According to Sherdog and Tapology, Khabib has long been ahead of John and bears the title of the strongest representative of mixed martial arts in the world.