Prime Khabib. I used to watch UFC back in the day and I never really understood why Penn was rated so highly, even then. He has some good individual wins but always seemed to blow hot and cold to me.
And he fought way past his due by date. He was done after he lost to Edgar. Yet he fought him two more times after that. Retired in 2019 only 9 years too late.
Khabib almost certainly. BJ on form was a beast though. He was inconsistent AF, fought way too long, did crazy **** like fight Machida etc which lead to him racking up losses, but pure ability wise at his best he was an absolute terror.
Oh yes he definitely fought in waay past his best. Perhaps moreso than anyone else. But, to clarify, I mean well before that. I started watching UFC back in the early 2000s. But certainly by about 2010 BJ was openly being discussed as a legend, best LW of all time, spoken about with reverance etc, and I never got it. He had great skills, took some crazy fights and had a couple of real highlight performances. But he was never consistent. Just when he'd put together 2 or 3 decent wins, and I'd think 'Oh OK, I'm starting to get it now,' he'd lose again. To clarify, I'm not saying he wasn't very good, and I completely understand that losing is a part of MMA. And that fighters from different eras should be judged by their own time. I think Chuck Liddell, Matt Hughes etc are all bonafide legends and pioneers. I've just never understood why BJ is rated so, so highly in some quaeters. I get that he had mad skills and was a prodigy etc. But you should be rated on results, not potential.
"Prime" BJ was truly great and I think he has legendary status, at least in the UFC. But the question is about the outcome of his fight with Khabib, and I think the vast majority have no doubts about how it would have ended
Apologies as I amended the post you quoted above as my computer kept crashing(!) I think it's perfectly reasonable to bring up BJs inconsistency and a sense, IMO, that he is overrated (not no good, but overrated) into a discussion about him fighting someone else. I do think there is some recency bias in some of these hypothetical matchups sometimes. But I have Khabib here, no doubt. wouldn't be easy, but I think he grinds it out quite dominant in the end.
I think a lot of this is because the lower weights didnt get anywhere near as much focus back in those days. It was relatively slim pickings and BJ was pretty much the default guy who stood out as the best.
Khabib for sure... we saw how BJ Penn did against GSP.. he just struggled with guys with good takedowns that had a strong ground game too.. and Khabib was the bad at what he did so he has got to be the favourite.. but he would just decision BJ in my opinion
I think Khabib would win too but this is harsh and very much downplaying how good BJ was at his best. Khabib had one first round stoppage in 13 UFC fights and went the distance with guys like Al Iaquinta, Pat Healy and Abel Trujillo. A 225lb Machida didn't stop BJ, it took nearly 20 years for him to get subbed too.