Regardless of how he did it and who he did it against, Khabib Nurmagomedov is the undisputed UFC lightweight champion.

When you take a look at each of the divisions under the UFC banner, it’s clear that it's the 155-pound division that has everyone left confused the most. Conor McGregor was the rightful champion but was stripped of the gold as he had never defended it.

NEW CHAMPION

Tony Ferguson’s interim title win over Kevin Lee was then bumped up to the undisputed version and when El Cucuy was injured before UFC 223 and was forced to pull out of the fight against The Eagle at the fourth time of asking, the organisation stripped him of the championship and allowed the unbeaten Dagestani to fight for it.

However, it didn’t come without criticism. Although he is the king of the division now, many fighters and fans feel that he shouldn’t be in that position because he beat Al Iaquinta for the gold, and not a top-ranked fighter.

That’s exactly why former lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez finds the whole situation funny. After claiming that he’s the only person in the division that can beat Nurmagomedov, he’s now stated that he’s more of a real champion than Khabib because his journey to the top was more difficult.

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According to MMA Junkie, he said: “What’s funny about this whole thing is, Khabib wasn’t a champion. Now he’s the champion after being no. 11. Let’s just get that out in the open.

“He says, ‘paper champion, who’s fake champion, who’s real champion?’ You beat no. 11, and now you’re champion. So think on that. Pray on that during Ramadan. No. 11, and now you’re champion.

“When I fought for the title, I literally fought no. 5, 4, 3, 2 then 1. I fought a champion, a guy who was a champion, who had a belt. That’s a real champion.

“I’ll continue to fight the best, and I’ll wait my turn. I’ll let the UFC do their job, pick who’s next in line and I’ll be waiting there for all of them.”

Regardless of what fans think of Alvarez, he has had a tougher task in reaching the top, but Khabib’s impressive unbeaten record also comes into play which makes his quite impressive in its own right.

Alvarez might be waiting a while to get his hands on him, though.

Ali Abdelaziz, Khabib’s manager, has already revealed that unless you’re Georges St-Pierre, Conor McGregor or Dustin Poirier, you’re out of luck when it comes to stepping into the Octagon against the Russian.

What do you make of Eddie Alvarez’s statement about their rise to the champion of the lightweight division? Have YOUR say in the comments section below.