Back in 2018, UFC 223 was headlined by Khabib Nurmagomedov and Al Iaquinta for the vacant lightweight title. Al Iaquinta stepped up on late notice and managed to keep up all five rounds of competition. Ultimately, Khabib walked away as champion after a unanimous decision victory. Subscribe to get all the latest UFC content: https://ufc.ac/3u8FIJp Experience UFC live with UFC FIGHT PASS, the digital subscription service of the UFC. Visit https://ufcfightpass.com/ To order UFC Pay-Per-Views on ESPN+, visit https://ufc.ac/3NKBvmx (U.S. only) To order UFC Pay-Per-Views, visit http://welcome.ufcfightpass.com/#PPV (Non U.S.) 👉 Shop official UFC Gear, visit https://ufcstore.com 👉 Shop official UFC Memorabilia, visit https://ufccollectibles.com 👉 Shop official UFC VIP Live Event Experiences, visit https://ufc.ac/3Oz2gLH Connect with UFC online and on Social: 🔴 Website: http://www.ufc.com 🔵 Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ufc 🔵 Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ufc 🔴 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/ufc 🟡 Snapchat: UFC 🟣 Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/ufc Connect with UFC FIGHT PASS on Social: 🔵 Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ufcfightpass 🔵 Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ufcfightpass 🔴 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/ufcfightpass #UFC #UFC223 #khabib
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Khabib's team wiping the blood from Al Laquinta's face shows how much respect they have for the fighter
I genuinely don’t understand people who say his fights are boring, he had one of the most entertaining styles of all time, just relentless pressure and what he did differently than other wrestlers is that he was constantly active on the ground.
Who is proud to be a part of ummate Muhammad s-a-w
Respect for Al Laquinta for never give up.
Who watching this in 2025?🙋
Respect to Al for taking this fight. True gangster
That dude lasting the whole match is an incredible accomplishment. Khabib is a monster
Al Iaquinta done what Conor, Dustin, and Justin couldn't do. Go the full distance with Khabib
Al’s expression at the end was definitely an unexpected gesture, well played sir
26:50 the reaction of Al while listening to Buffer reading scorecard is hilarious😂
Khabib's striking wasn't that great but its better than a lot of people believe, the guy moves around so quick and his footwork here was definitely better than most fighters of this time, which is why his takedowns worked so well because he wasn't a stocky wrestler, he was pretty agile, his defense was also high level, look at the head movement in this fight and how many right hands he blocked/parried with his arm/shoulder
AL had great heart here , he stood straight and gave it his all whilst taking a pounding , no shame In loosing to khabib❤
Everybody knew his game but nobody could stop him, that's enough to understand the greatness of this fighter. 🔝
Very interesting fact of this fight: Khabib was watching loads of videos of Muhammad Ali boxing while training and cutting weight for this fight that he even admitted that he went too overboard with his striking because he was so motivated from the videos. You may also notice that mid fight his brother Abubaker Nurmagomedov started getting angry with him and told him to stop messing around (With the striking stuff). But Iaquinta would credit his striking as really weird that it was hard to counter but also give credit to Iaquinta for his wrestling defence in this fight.
With all the other wrestlers in the UFC, I never understood why casuals would call Khabib boring. He is the least boring wrestler I’ve ever seen. When he’s on the ground, he’s not laying on his opponents to hold control time and stall the standup, he’s trying everything he can to kill them, constantly. He shoots takedowns relentlessly until he lands one, smashes their guard with pressure, then throws HEAVY shots as soon as he reaches a position where he can generate the force he is looking for. He is never still and he is constantly pressuring his opponents to try to break their will. His submission attempts are incredibly well timed and intelligent, and his ground and pound is SAVAGE. It’s rare to see fighters pivot so hard into punches in a dominant position on the ground without ever losing position or throwing themselves off balance. He’s not in the GOAT conversation, but he was a MONSTER. Wish we got to see more of him, because I’m sure he would be in that conversation now.
Khabib is the GOAT who always fought three enemies at the same time: 1) the player in the cctagon, 2) the unsupportive audience 3) biased commentators And still not a single scratch on this face or body.
Ive taken a deep dive into watching khabib and my goodness. Ive never seen anyone utilize wrestling the way he does to render his opponents unable to do anything like that. Amazing athlete, amazing man, amazing grit. My mentality has improved since trying to think like him.
I swear Khabib practiced his striking in this fight 😭 he used Al as a punching bag for 25 mins
You know the one thing about this fight that always amazed me was the speed of Khabib's shots. That low single takedown was lighting fast and when he latched onto Al, there was no escape. Khabib was a different level
There will never be another Khabib. You can literally see in Alquintas eyes in the first round he already knew he couldn't win the fight. Khabib to me is the greatest. Being in the most dangerous sport in the world and just maul everyone with ease, put your will on your opponent and retire undefeated without even bleeding, that's GOAT status