What Khabib Nurmagomedov has said about Ultimate Fighting Championship

Nurmagomedov ranks Daniel Cormier among the top ten greatest fighters and argues Cormier pushed Jon Jones to train harder.

“Well, top 10 for sure. One of the top 10 greatest, no question”

Lex Fridman Podcast: #500 – Khabib Nurmagomedov: Dagestan, MMA, UFC, Islam, Conor, Fedor & Football (Aug 12, 2026) · Listen from 2:12:53

Nurmagomedov says he worries that time is running out for Islam Makhachev to break the records of Jones, Johnson and St-Pierre because lighter weight classes are less forgiving of age.

“Islam has a chance, but time is starting to run out a little”

Lex Fridman Podcast: #500 – Khabib Nurmagomedov: Dagestan, MMA, UFC, Islam, Conor, Fedor & Football (Aug 12, 2026) · Listen from 2:21:27

Nurmagomedov credits Dana White's ability to separate business from personal relationships and to put the UFC first as the reason the promotion grew so fast.

“He's very good at separating business from personal relationships. For him, the two never, never overlap”

Lex Fridman Podcast: #500 – Khabib Nurmagomedov: Dagestan, MMA, UFC, Islam, Conor, Fedor & Football (Aug 12, 2026) · Listen from 2:24:37

Nurmagomedov names Joe Rogan the second most responsible person for promoting the UFC after Dana White and says appearing on Rogan's podcast is inevitable.

“But second place without question goes to Joe Rogan. It's honestly hard to imagine the UFC without him”

Lex Fridman Podcast: #500 – Khabib Nurmagomedov: Dagestan, MMA, UFC, Islam, Conor, Fedor & Football (Aug 12, 2026) · Listen from 2:27:32