These are different "everyone"s youre talking about.
And it was totally true that Khabib had one of the easiest paths to one of the easiest title bouts in the modern era of the sport. Once becoming champion, Khabib was very impressive in his handful of defences. Both things can be true - relatively, very easy road to the title and then a dominant championship streak.
And the people who say he is the GOAT are simply wrong. He definitely isn't. He beat a bunch of Russian jobbers in two round smokers before the UFC, had a pretty uneventful few years grinding in the UFC including a controversial decision against Tibau and then a title bout against a half-retired real estate agent before he became really impressive - and he was VERY impressive, but only for about 4 fights. As impressive as he was as champ, that does not a GOAT make. Simply too short.
So, 2 out of those 3 things are true. Khabib had a very easy road to a very easy title fight. He then looked amazing for his short reign but he is absolutely not the GOAT, not even the LW GOAT, because his reign was way too short.
going 9-0 in the UFC is an easy path to a title shot? how many champions have had to do that? almost all of the prolific champions have gotten their title shots after a handful of fights.
he was dominant against guys who weren't quite the best, but very solid... just like islam is now. he had a long winning streak in the UFC and passed the eye test to anyone who had a clue, just like islam does. and yet, his opposition moaned about him being undeserving and not having enough quality wins. exactly like they do with islam now.
the point is, if you mop the floor with everyone, win a belt, and
continue to mop the floor with everyone, the complaints about your title shot being undeserved become idiotic in retrospect. you can make a case for someone having an undeserved shot when they get it in their first UFC fight, but even that looks silly if they win it. what, they were undeserving, yet they could beat the supposed best guy in the world? as long as the new champ faces actual top contenders (i'm looking at you, bisping), the truth about them being deserving will eventually find them. but when your road to a title shot is you wining 10 in a row with the last 4 being all finishes, people need to shut the fuck up.
like seriously, if charles does not fight islam, who is a better contender at 155 right now? he's ranked #4 by the UFC, poirier and gaethje being above him. they both already got owned by the champ, so they're out of the picture right now. dariush is legit, but his resume is no more impressive than islam's and his streak is shorter. following in the rankings are RDA, gillespie, and mcgregor. it's clear that islam is the best of the bunch here and his claim is legit.
and khabib was always impressive, let's not pretend like he became a significantly different fighter after winning a title. i'm not denying he was improving, mind you, just pointing out that he was a beast from day one, it's just that when he held the belt and kept choking out the #1 challengers, people couldn't talk shit about him anymore.
and i'm not sure what you're talking about his LW reign being too short. who exactly do you think had a longer reign? he is tied with penn for 3 title defences, which is the most in UFC history. they both finished all 3 of their challengers. besides, i think most people who call him the LW GOAT simply mean that he would've beaten all lightweights we've seen so far. i'm not sure about his GOAT status either way, but he sure as fuck was impressive and his reign was literally the longest anyone's ever had at 155.