Former UFC heavyweight explains why he disagrees with Khabib Nurmagomedov's comments about Irish vs. Dagestani MMA: "It would be no competition"

A former UFC heavyweight recently voiced his disagreement with Khabib Nurmagomedov’s polarizing comparison of Irish and Dagestani MMA. Last week, 'The Eagle' sparked a frenzy within the MMA community when he stated in an interview with the PFL that Dagestani fighters are on an entirely different tier than their Irish counterparts.

The UFC Hall of Famer's comments came ahead of his cousin, reigning Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov's upcoming title defense against Ireland’s Paul Hughes in the main event of the Road to Dubai Champions Series on Jan. 25.

Nurmagomedov doubled down on his claims on social media despite facing backlash from numerous fighters, insisting that Dagestani athletes are more than capable of defeating anyone in the world.

Check out Khabib Nurmagomedov's post below:

During a recent episode of his Thiccc Boy podcast, Brendan Schaub pushed back against the former UFC lightweight champion’s views on Irish vs. Dagestani MMA. Schaub argued that 'The Eagle' is confident in his compatriots’ dominance because they commit to MMA training from a young age.

However, he suggested that if American athletes across the board began specializing in MMA, the narrative could be entirely different:

"Dagestan is nothing else; all they do is focus on combat sports, nothing else. Wrestling, sambo—that's their entire focus over there. They play nothing else. So, since kids, that's the goal. Do you realize what would happen if the talent in America or Ireland—but in this case, America, where I'm from—decided to focus at a mass scale on MMA?"

"It would be the dream team versus everybody else. There would be no competition. Dagestan never had a single athlete ever that could compete in any major sport."

Check out Brendan Schaub's comments below (55:04):

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Chael Sonnen supports Khabib Nurmagomedov's praise for Dagestani MMA dominance

Amid the widespread backlash following Khabib Nurmagomedov's claim that Dagestani MMA fighters surpass those from the rest of the world, particularly Ireland, Chael Sonnen came forward to lend his support to 'The Eagle'.

During a recent video on his YouTube channel, Sonnen asserted that Nurmagomedov’s bold claims are completely justified and highlighted that Dagestan unquestionably leads the world in combat sports, especially given their exceptional achievements in Olympic wrestling:

"There are 2,000 people in the village where Khabib's from, and seven of them have Olympic gold medals. That is crazy. That's how many people I had in my high school in the mid-'90s. Seven Olympic gold medals. It's just a very different thing."

"Khabib's point about bragging about Dagestan or Khabib's region versus anywhere on Earth—you might not like it, it might offend you, but there's no way to say he's wrong. That is simply not fiction. It is accurate, and you’ve got to understand the region."

Check out Chael Sonnen's comments below (3:55):