Fans criticize Khabib Nurmagomedov for promoting his NFT collection
Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has ventured into the NFT market since retiring from mixed martial arts altogether. ‘The Eagle’ has been promoting his NFT collection by GMT which allows users to mine Bitcoin and gain access to Khabib’s private club, according to www.khabib.gmt.io.
The platform says that buyers can use their NFTs to attend private events that Khabib Nurmagomedov holds several times a year. The site even says that the Khabib NFT Collection will mine Bitcoins for users.
Khabib Nurmagomedov posted the following tweet announcing his NFT venture:
A user with the handle @SalShulk responded with the following tweet:
The caption of the user’s post read:
“Khabib Nurmagomedov, this red flag is for you.”
Many other users criticized the former lightweight champion’s blockchain venture, telling Nurmagomedov that it didn’t look good on him. One user accused “The Eagle” of being a sell-out, while others expressed feelings of disappointment towards Nurmagomedov for seemingly defrauding millions of his followers.
Khabib Nurmagomedov last fought in 2020 in Abu Dhabi. He faced Justin Gaethje in his retirement fight at UFC 254, where he put the ‘Highlight Reel’ to sleep with a triangle choke in the second round. After the fight, ‘The Eagle’ announced his retirement from active competition at the behest of his then recently widowed mother.
Khabib Nurmagomedov – The lightweight ‘GOAT’
While Khabib Nurmagomedov rose to the top of the men’s pound-for-pound list, undefeated as champion with a record of 29-0 – many still argue that he is not the greatest to ever do it. The man in contention for “GOAT” status, Jon Jones, himself had issues with people claiming “The Eagle” was the “greatest of all time” after his spectacular MMA run.
Nurmagomedov is definitely in discussions along with the aforementioned Jones, Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva as the greatest fighters to ever step into the octagon. But contesting Jones’ 11 title defenses could make it difficult to crown ‘The Eagle’ with that title.
That being said, there is no reason why ‘The Eagle’ should not be considered the greatest lightweight of all time. So far, no high-profile fighter has retired with an undefeated record. Many fighters typically don’t make it past 25 fights due to the grueling nature of MMA as a sport.
Going undefeated in 29 fights and dispatching most, if not all, of his opponents with ease, Nurmagomedov created a legacy and path for many fighters from the Eastern European Caucus.
It’s not just the undefeated record, but also the dominance that Nurmagomedov handled with his opponents. With finishes over the best in the lightweight division such as Conor McGregor, Justin Gaethje and Dustin Poirier, ‘The Eagle’ has cemented his status as the greatest lightweight fighter to date.
