UFC LEGEND Georges St-Pierre has hailed Khabib Nurmagomedov as "unbeatable" and the "perfect fighter".
And "The Eagle" is behind only Jon Jones in the latest UFC pound-for-pound rankings.
St-Pierre, 39, had been eager to fight Nurmagomedov prior to his retirement.
But when UFC president Dana White refused to make the showdown happen, the Canadian called time on his career, as a legend of the sport.
And opening up on why he is still so keen to enter the octagon with the Russian, St-Pierre admitted that fighters "don't think like normal" people.
He told the MMA TruFan podcast: "Khabib was very exciting for me because, for a fighter, a fighter doesn’t think like a normal person.
"A fighter always wants to fight a guy who seems invincible, a guy who seems like the perfect fighter, who is unbeatable.
"He has an aura of invincibility. So, that means if I do it I’ll be the first to have ever done it. It’s not a question of money.
“Yeah, the money is there but it’s not a question of money first. It’s a question of glory, of self accomplishment, of making it in a way that you’ll be in history forever, for myself.”
Having gone 26-2 in his illustrious career – including defending the UFC welterweight belt an astonishing nine times, St-Pierre defeated Michael Bisping on his middleweight debut to become two-division champion.
But boss White was left fuming when St-Pierre refused to defend his middleweight belt… as was previously agreed upon.
White, 50, said: "Well there’s two things — first of all, who doesn’t love Georges St-Pierre? Love Georges St-Pierre, the best ever as far as human beings, great guy, love him.
"Georges St-Pierre and I had a deal, he was going to fight Bisping at 185 pounds and if he won, he would defend the title. He bailed on that. Didn’t do it.
“So you can’t just come out and hand pick fights that you want for titles.”
Instead, Nurmogomedov has since fought and defeated Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier – with a battle with current interim champion Justin Gaethje on the horizon.
St-Pierre and Nurmagomedov are joined in the pantheon of MMA greats by current pound-for-pound No1 Jones.
The 33-year-old boasts an incredible 26-1 record inside the octagon – having made his UFC debut all the way back in 2008.
Currently on a 17-fight winning streak, "Bones" was last in action back in February when he defeated Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 – extending his dominance of the light heavyweight division.
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