The legendary former world champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is often said to have rarely lost so much as a round during his career.
On his way to lightweight title glory, the Russian won 29 fights on the bounce, and retired at the top of his game after three straight stoppages over Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje. He was far and away the most dominant fighter in history, often toying with opponents while battering them.
However, on one night early in his UFC career, on the prelim card of Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen’s infamous rematch, he almost had his hype train derailed.
Khabib Nurmagomedov faced Gleison Tibau at UFC 148
After a successful debut in January of 2012 against Kamal Shalorus, Khabib Nurmagomedov was thrown in at the deep end against Gleison Tibau, a veteran of almost twice as many pro fights. In fact, Tibau with 12 UFC outings, had been in the octagon almost as many times as 17-0 Nurmagomedov had fought.
The Russian, for what would ultimately be the last time in his career, entered as a slight underdog with bookmakers. And with the antics of Sonnen and Silva as well as characters such as Forrest Griffin and Tito Ortiz in the main event, the two understated personalities slipped under the radar.
Ultimately, Khabib Nurmagomedov would go on to have one of the greatest careers in the history of fighting. But he forever cites Tibau, and not the litany of world champions he defeated, as his toughest ever opponent in the octagon.
Judges decision caused controversy after Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Gleison Tibau at UFC 148
On the night, Khabib Nurmagomedov was completely stifled when Tibau managed to stop all 13 of his takedown attempts. The Brazilian even landed one of his own, and outstruck his rival throughout the three rounds.
Around the beginning of the third round, commentator Joe Rogan said on the broadcast: “Gleison at this point in the game just simply seems to be the better fighter”. A few minutes later, he declared that Nurmagomedov “probably will lose by a decision if nothing changes in the next 50 seconds or so.”
However, all three judges scored the fight in favor of Nurmagomedov, picking him to have won every single round. This baffled Rogan, who when commentary partner Mike Goldberg simply exclaimed “wow,” responded ‘wow indeed’.
The media scorecards painted a completely different picture, with MMADecisions.com’s six journalists scoring all going in the direction of Tibau aside from one. Four of those media members even scored it 30-27 to the Brazilian.
However, the controversy has long been the subject of debate. MMAFighting’s Alexander K Lee in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic gave a detailed breakdown of the fight, and came out having scored the fight 30-27 for Nurmagomedov before examining the greater stats and discussion around the fight.
And fans have been similarly dubious of the fight’s legend, with a number of Reddit threads criticizing Rogan and Goldberg’s commentary. One comment read: “The commentary on that fight is abysmal.
“They crowned Tibau the winner halfway through the 2nd and just kept hammering that Khabib is promising but in too deep on this one. Clouds the entire fight.”
Ultimately, Nurmagomedov’s reaction of breaking down in tears after the decision indicates that he was aware there was a chance it wouldn’t go his way. But the judges’ decision is final, and he would go on to leave the rest of career in little doubt.