Khabib Nurmagomedov is officialy the UFC's number one pound-for-pound fighter and is proud to have achieved the "work of my life".

After submitting Justin Gaethje in the second round to unify the lightweight division and extend his unbeaten mixed martial arts record to 29-0 at UFC 254 on Saturday, Khabib announced his immediate retirement.

The Russian was emotional in the Octagon as he confirmed he would not return due to the death of his father and coach Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov in July, having promised his mother the fight with Gaethje would be his last.

Following his latest victory, Khabib said: "There is only one thing I want from UFC, to put me as the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world because I deserve it."

Khabib took to Instagram to express his pride at that request becoming a reality on Tuesday, as he moved above former light-heavyweight king Jon Jones into top spot.

"It was [the] work of my life, I never got anything easy, and nothing was given to me because I'm [a] nice guy," he wrote.

"Hard work, hope for Allah and patience, these three ingredients help me to get success, and of course, control and advice from my father, who invested in me a lot of time and work."

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A post shared by Khabib Nurmagomedov (@khabib_nurmagomedov) on Oct 27, 2020 at 6:25am PDT

Khabib also posted an image of an X-ray showing he had a broken bone in his left foot less than three weeks before taking on Gaethje, making his success all the more remarkable.

The win enhanced the 32-year-old's claim to be considered the greatest UFC fighter of all time, but Jones does not share that opinion.

In a video posted on Instagram on Monday, Jones said: "I'm talking to all you Khabib fans out there; 15 world titles, to your guy's four, and you guys are really talking about who's the best fighter ever. You guys are joking right?

"The only person that could possibly come back and challenge my record and what I've done in the UFC is possibly Georges St-Pierre.

"He would have to come back and win two championship fights to tie me. And I'm not even retired yet. I'm 33 years old. I've got a whole other chapter to go through.

"And all you guys that are going with this 'he's more dominant' argument, the guy just recently started fighting elite level competition. Can you imagine me against the 10th-ranked guy?"

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A post shared by BONY (@jonnybones) on Oct 26, 2020 at 3:20pm PDT