Islam Makhachev is now the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter. While some are still doubtful about this newly acquired position by the Russian, Scottish UFC Middleweight fighter Paul Craig believes Makhachev deserves it and attained it in his own way and style.
In his recent interview with James Lynch for Inside Fighting, Craig addressed the negative views of others about Makhachev’s Top 1 spot and Russian former UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov’s supremacy during his time.
“I know a lot of people don’t like the style of the Russians because it’s so dominating. They just take people down and just imposing their will but it’s working and he’s not taking a lot of damage and he’s imposing his will on everybody he’s been up against,” said Craig. “There’s only one guy that I would maybe put in front of him and that would be Jon Jones but, pound-for-pound for him, yep.”
Craig follows Nurmagomedov’s statement celebrating the success of his childhood friend. According to the former MMA fighter, the victory of his fellow Russian friend is “an unprecedented case.”
“This is an unprecedented case when two fighters, raised from childhood by the same coach, in the same city, in the same gym, who trained together for a long time side by side, become champions in the same weight in the best league in the world@UFC,” Nurmagomedov’s translated post on Instagram reads. “And also both became the best fighters regardless of weight categories of their time. And believe me, this is not the point yet, @islam_makhachev continues to write history.”
