There’s no doubt Khabib Nurmagomedov ended his career as a legend, despite some claiming that he hung up gloves pretty early. However, there was this one fight against Gleison Tibau, which he won, of course, but it was controversial, nonetheless.
The Eagle’s former rival recently opened up on the experience of fighting Nurmagomedov. He also disclosed that the Dagestani phenom used some unfair tactics.
Khabib Nurmagomedov is known to be one of the most grappling-heavy fighters that the UFC has ever seen. He takes pride in his background in combat sambo, which he believes is on a level that is higher than Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. In fact, he once donned a shirt to an official UFC weigh-in ceremony that read “If Sambo was easy it would be called jiu-jitsu” However, when he took on Gleison Tibau in 2012, he just couldn’t move impose his will on the Brazilian. ‘The Eagle’ failed to secure even a single takedown. This might surprise many UFC fans who have seen the 29-0 legend ‘maul’ his opponents inside the Octagon.
Just the way the commentary is speaking how unless khabib can pull off a late finish then the decision looks obvious.. khabibs corner telling him to go for it and khabib getting wreckless tells you they even thought he was down. Tibau is cruising assuming he has won. pic.twitter.com/cstZmx4yhI
— 20Finishes (@16Submissions) November 25, 2022
“I felt Khabib, it was like Khabib was thinking, ‘Why can’t I take this guy down?’ He really wanted to drop me, I think, to prove it to himself. And at this time, Khabib did everything he wanted to try to get a takedown,” Gleison Tibau recently told the Russian media outlet ‘Ushatayka’ (translated by Google). Moreover, the former Brazilian fighter took down ‘The Eagle’ multiple times, overwhelming him in the process. In a shocking revelation, because of his inability to force his opponent onto the mat, Khabib Nurmagomedov resorted to some shady tactics, according to Tibau, which saw him grab the fence more than once, leading him to get warned by referee Mario Yamasaki.
Having defended himself well against Khabib Nurmagomedov, Gleison Tibau added, “You know, he doesn’t think about the rules. He doesn’t care about anything. He just wants to get away. But in this game… no, no, no, I don’t think anyone in this game can give me a takedown. I have the best takedown defense in the world.”
This appears to be the only time the Dagestani legend saw himself in a controversial situation. Many believed that the Dagestani native should have suffered a loss. However, he would never face such a situation where he couldn’t take down his opponents again in the UFC. However, Gleison Tibau never went on to win any title, despite giving ‘The Eagle’ a run for his money. In fact, Gleison Tibau would be slapped with a lengthy suspension after a drug test failure a few years later.
Khabib Nurmagomedov’s toughest rival also got embroiled in a controversy of his own
Things were pretty rough back in the early 2010s because there were many cases of fighters getting caught having banned substances in their body. People never associate doping violations with Khabib Nurmagomedov, but they do when they talk about Gleison Tibau. In 2015, when USADA was the UFC’s official anti-doping agency, they decided to hit up the former UFC fighter in Sao Paulo for an out-of-competition drug test. As we’ve already mentioned, Tibau failed the test, which would lead to a suspension.
Due to a potential anti-doping violation, Gleison Tibau had to hit the shelves for a shocking two years. The banned substance in question is erythropoietin, which helps enhance an athlete’s performance by producing more red blood cells than the body normally does. After returning from suspension, Tibau would compete in just two more UFC fights, which involved a fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov’s protégé, Islam Makhachev, and would lose both bouts.
Khabib Nurmagomedov, despite how his 2012 fight panned out, remains one of the UFC’s biggest-ever stars and a revered figure. Some even want him to return, but that seems like a farfetched idea.