Khabib Nurmagomedov is already a UFC Hall of Famer and one of the greatest lightweights in MMA history but since he’s retirement he’s also become one of the best and most successful coaches in the sport.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Nurmagomedov has coached friends and teammates like Islam Makhachev to multiple championship titles and the same goes for his cousin Usman Nurmagomedov, who is the current PFL lightweight champion. When addressing his coaching style, Khabib made it clear that he rules over every aspect of training and “there is no freedom of speech — everybody do what I say if I’m coach.”
Ahead of his title defense at PFL Dubai, Usman says Khabib was telling the absolute truth about his relentless coaching style in the gym.
“Exactly what he said. Like that,” Usman told MMA Fighting. “Very hard, even today I tried to tell him, hey, I feel a little weak, I’m feeling bad. He said ‘if it’s feeling like 50/50, you want to train but you don’t want [to train], it means you want [to train]. Go ahead.’ He begins grappling with me and we grappled almost 20 minutes. It was after drillings, after training we begin [again]. It’s hard to explain to him I’m tired. I tried [not to tell him] I’m tired or something like that.
“It was before Islam [Makhachev’s] fight. If you say something [like scream or show frustration], he’ll say ‘who said [that]?’ This is crazy.”
While everybody on the team always credits Khabib’s late father Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov for setting the standard when it came to their evolution and development as fighters, Usman says his cousin has definitely ratcheted things up a notch or two as coach.
“His father was more easy, to be honest,” Nurmagomedov said with a laugh. “100 percent. With his father, it was easy.”
All jokes aside, Usman says that Khabib’s style of coaching may not be for everybody but it’s one of the most singular reasons why their team has found so much success.
By the time he sets foot in the cage to battle Alfie Davis on Saturday, Usman knows he’s faced the toughest and most arduous training camp possible to get him prepared.
He knows there’s little chance that Davis is going to throw something at him that Khabib didn’t already recognize while getting him ready and that sets him up with the best possible chance for success.
“I’m very happy we have Khabib for pushing us like that,” Usman said. “Even if we are telling him he’s trying to kill us, this is the way where we can grow. Where we can push up our limit. Honestly, I’m so happy for that.”
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