Russian analyst debates greatest UFC fighters, includes Khabib and McGregor in top 10

Russian MMA analyst Kalugin responded to Vlad Matveev's top 10 greatest UFC fighters list, expressing surprise at the exclusion of Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor. While praising Matveev's detailed work, Kalugin argued that greatness should include additional criteria beyond titles and opposition quality, such as impact on sport popularization, peak form dominance, commercial value, and records. He emphasized that McGregor and Khabib globally popularized MMA and inspired countless followers in ways other champions did not. Kalugin proposed his own top 10: Jon Jones, GSP, Khabib, McGregor, Jose Aldo, Alex Pereira, Anderson Silva, Demetrious Johnson, Islam Makhachev, and Amanda Nunes. He acknowledged the subjectivity of such rankings while defending his methodology of combining traditional and influence-based criteria.