Issue 194
September 2021
From Sildi, Dagestan, to becoming the greatest lightweight fighter of al time, Khabib Nurmagomedov took the path less traveled en route to becoming the first-ever Muslim to win a UFC title and his story is a remarkable one. Here, Jim Edwards looks at the key staging posts that led to him compiling a perfect 29-0 mixed martial arts record – a feat unlikely to be repeated.
September 1988 – Khabib Nurmagomedov is born
Khabib Abdulmanapovich Nurmagomedov was born on 20th September 1988, in the village of Sildi in the Tsumadinsky District of Dagestan. He was the second of three children of Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, a war veteran and highly decorated athlete with an older brother named Mogamed and younger sister Amina.
Early 1990s – Training begins
Abdulmanap moved his family to Kirovaul and founded a combat sambo and wrestling school. Aware that children in the area could be caught up in the rise of Islamic insurgency, Abdulmanap ensured that the youth in Dagestan had a sporting alternative to Islamic extremism that was becoming ever more prevalent.
With a background of wrestling, judo and combat in the military, Abdulmanap trained fighters in the basement of the home where Khabib, his siblings, and his cousins all lived. Surrounded by wrestling before he could even walk or talk, Khabib grew on the mats at home and was said to have learned all the basic wrestling exercises and techniques before he reached the age of five.
September 1997 – Wrestling a bear
Outside of his perfect MMA record and high-level performances inside the UFC Octagon, Khabib is perhaps best known for a wrestling match that took place in his childhood. Just three days after his ninth birthday, Abdulmanap challenged Khabib to wrestle an un-muzzled, much heavier bear cub. The footage of Khabib wrestling the bear is remarkable with both showing competent wrestling techniques as they grappled for position.
The image of the bear evading an advance, knocking Khabib to the ground and the young boy laughing said everything about his love for wrestling. The video, which found its way onto the internet in, 2014 has since amassed millions of views worldwide.
Early 2000s – Further training
In 2001, Abdulmanap moved his family to Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan. Here Khabib continued to train wrestling before also taking up judo in 2003 at the age of 15 and training with renowned judoka Jafar Jafarov.
It’s said that Khabib originally found the transition from wrestling to judo challenging, but Abdulmanap felt it was an essential part of his training that he learn to compete in a Gi jacket.
In 2007, Khabib returned to training Combat Sambo with his father and had his first experience of coaching as he began to teach schoolchildren in Makhachkala.
September 2008 – Khabib goes 4-0 in under a month
Having always dreamed of fighting in the UFC after watching videotapes of MMA as a young child, Khabib made his MMA debut in September 2008 at an event called CSFU: Champions League. The fight took place in Poltava, Ukraine and Khabib defeated his opponent Vusal Bayramov via a triangle submission after just two minutes of the first round. Footage that has since surfaced of the fight shows a young Khabib sporting his usual shaved head, wearing blue gloves and choking his opponent out cold in a ring surrounded by no more than a handful of people.
Less than a month later on October 11, Khabib competed at Pankration Atrium Cup 1 in Moscow, Russia and won a tournament that saw him compete three times in one day. Khabib used crisp takedowns to consistently control his opponents on the open mat and he defeated Magomed Magomedov, Ramazan Kurbanismailov and Shamil Abdulkerimov in the final to take his record to 4-0 within a month of making his debut.
October 2009 – Combat Sambo gold
Having competed on two more occasions in MMA to take his record to 6-0, Khabib took part in the World Combat Sambo Federation World Championships in October 2009. Khabib won gold in the under 74kg category whilst current UFC fighters Islam Makhachev (under 62kg) and Aleksey Oleynik (over 90kg) also took home gold medals in their respective weight categories.
Nurmagomedov would then repeat this feat in 2010, winning gold in the under 82kg category in Moscow, Russia.
2010-2011 – Khabib dominates the regional scene
After a further MMA win at the back end of 2009 and a further victory in between Combat Sambo gold medals in 2010, Khabib went on an incredible run of fights in 2011 that saw him notch up seven wins.
The run began in February when Khabib defeated Alexander Agafonov at M-1 Selection Ukraine 2010: The Finals in Kyiv. Khabib then went on to compete four times in five months under the ProFC banner, finishing all four fights inside the distance.
The Dagestani then ended the year with his record at 16-0 following another two stoppage wins. It was clear to all that Khabib was now ready for the world stage, but his path to the UFC was temporarily blocked by a contract dispute with ProFC. Thankfully, after a settlement out of court, Khabib signed a six-fight contract in late 2011 with the UFC.
January 2012 – UFC debut
On January 20th 2012, Khabib made his UFC debut at UFC on FX: Guillard vs. Miller against Kamal Shalorus. The fight marked Khabib’s return to 155-pounds having competed in ProFC at welterweight.
Khabib struggled to find his range in the early exchanges, but after catching Shalorus with a left hand and knocking him to the mat, Khabib ground him down with his wrestling before submitting him in the final round.
July 2012 – The Tibau test
Six months later, Khabib competed on his first-ever UFC pay-per-view event at UFC 148 which was headlined by the infamous Sonnen vs Silva II middleweight title fight rematch. On the undercard, Khabib took on Gleison Tibau in what some view as his most controversial win.
Though all judges scored the bout 30-27 unanimously for Nurmagomedov, he didn’t have it all his own way after Tibau stuffed all 13 of Khabib’s takedowns. With the striking stats showing Tibau landed both more significant strikes (28-25) and more total strikes (46-33), some believed the Brazilian should’ve been the one with his hand raised at the end of the fight.
Most importantly though, the judges were not of that opinion and Khabib improved his record to 18-0, capping his debut UFC year with a second victory.
2013 – Working his way through the ranks
After a successful opening year in the UFC, Khabib continued to make waves in the lightweight division with three further wins in 2013.
The year began at UFC on FX 7 in Sao Paulo, Brazil where Khabib silenced a partisan Brazilian crowd by stopping Thiago Tavares inside two minutes. Tavares later tested positive for the anabolic steroid Drostanolone and was suspended for nine months.
Khabib then competed again at UFC 160 four months later and defeated Abel Trujillo by unanimous decision. During the fight, Khabib set a new UFC record for the most takedowns in a single three-round bout, with 21 successful takedowns out of 28 attempts.
Nurmagomedov then closed out the year with a landslide 30-27 decision win over veteran Pat Healy at UFC 165. This was the first time Khabib had competed on the main card of a UFC pay-per-view and he caught the eye of UFC president Dana White who sang his praises in the post-fight press conference: “We’re probably going to do big things with this kid,” White said. He wasn’t wrong.
2014-2015 – Injury setbacks
Khabib had a stop-start beginning in 2014 after a scheduled bout with Gilbert Melendez at UFC 170 was scrapped for undisclosed reasons. Nate Diaz was briefly brought in as a last-minute replacement, but after negotiations with the UFC broke down, Nurmagomedov was left on the sidelines.
UFC on Fox 11 finally saw Nurmagomedov back inside the UFC Octagon and this time it was Rafael dos Anjos who tasted the punishing relentlessness of the Dagestani’s aggressive wrestling style. After another completely dominant display, Khabib took all three cards 30-27 to take his record to 22-0 with six straights wins under the UFC banner.
But at this point, Nurmagomedov suffered a series of injuries with a knee complication ruling out potential bouts with Donald Cerrone at UFC 178 and then later, UFC 187 in May 2015.
Nurmagomedov was then scheduled to fight Tony Ferguson at The Ultimate Fighter 22 Finale in December 2015, but again, injury forced Khabib out of the fight in what would turn out to be the first of five fights between the two to be canceled.
2016 – Back to business
Though 2016 began with another cancellation of a scheduled Ferguson bout, Nurmagomedov remained on the card and made light work of late replacement Darrell Horcher at UFC on Fox 19. Khabib dominated the fight from beginning to end and finished Horcher via TKO in the second round.
Confusion reigned later in the year when Khabib signed a contract to fight the UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez but was then later denied the fight after it was offered to Conor McGregor. Nurmagomedov fumed at the UFC for not letting him fight for the belt and at UFC 205 it was Michael Johnson on whom he took out his frustration.
Johnson landed a nice overhand early on in the bout, but Nurmagomedov repeatedly wrestled him to the ground and in terrifyingly dominant fashion told Johnson to quit multiple times in between shouting at Dana White who sat cageside for a title shot before winning by submission.
Following his two wins that year, Khabib was named ‘International Fighter of the Year’ at the 2016 Fighters Only World MMA Awards.
2017 – Still chasing gold
Khabib looked to have got his way at UFC 209 when it was announced that he would be facing Tony Ferguson for the interim UFC lightweight title on March 4. This time around the fight was within 24 hours of taking place, but after suffering complications with his weight cut Nurmagomedov was forced out of the bout after being hospitalized.
After being denied another shot at UFC gold, Khabib returned to the Octagon on December 30 at UFC 219 against Edson Barboza. Despite having not competed for nearly a year, Nurmagomedov looked flawless as he repeatedly chained together his wrestling and striking to win via unanimous decision and pick up his first- ever Performance of the Night bonus.
April 2018 – Champion
With his record at 25-0, Nurmagomedov finally got a shot at UFC lightweight title at UFC 223 in Brooklyn, New York. An entire book could be written about the events that transpired that week. Tony Ferguson injuring himself and pulling out of the originally scheduled bout and Max Holloway stepping up as a replacement but being ruled out by the commission after a poor weight cut, was just the tip of the iceberg.
A confrontation at the fighters’ hotel between Khabib and Artem Lobov led to Conor McGregor arriving by private jet to New York and what followed was a series of events that put a black eye on the sport.
Despite the Irishman’s poor conduct, Nurmagomedov remained in the main event and after putting on a clinic against replacement Al Iaquinta, he had the UFC lightweight title wrapped around his waist for the very first time.
August 2018 – Settling a score
Following the events that occurred in Brooklyn, it was inevitable that the score between Nurmagomedov and McGregor would be settled in the UFC Octagon.
The highly-anticipated showdown took place at UFC 229 in August 2018 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It’s believed that the pay-per-view event was the most bought in UFC history with over 2.4 million buys in the US, and a further 5.2 million watching in the UK and Russia.
The build-up to the fight went as anticipated, with absolutely no love lost between the two fierce rivals. McGregor, as ever, promised a knockout, but during the fight, it was Khabib who knocked the Irishman down to the mat with a beautiful overhand right. McGregor did his best to rally, but Nurmagomedov wasn’t to be denied as he took McGregor down in round four and forced him to tap out to a neck crank.
The battle had ended, but the war still waged between the McGregor and Nurmagomedov camps. Following the end of the fight members of both parties were involved in a fracas inside and outside of the UFC Octagon. Thankfully, no one suffered any concerning injuries, though the Nevada State Athletic Commission suspended Khabib for nine months and fined him $500,000. McGregor received a six-month suspension and a $50,000 fine for his part in the brawl.
September 2019 – The return
After signing a new contract with the UFC earlier in the year, Khabib returned to the Octagon to unify the UFC lightweight title at UFC 242. Dustin Poirier had beaten Max Holloway at UFC 236 to win the interim belt, but when push came to shove in Abu Dhabi, the American couldn’t topple Nurmagomedov.
As was the case in many of his previous bouts, Khabib used his wrestling to wear Poirier down and in the third round, he submitted him with a rear-naked choke to claim his second title defense. Unlike the scenes that followed the McGregor contest, both fighters embraced after the fight and swapped shirts to show their respect for one another.
In the weeks that followed, Nurmagomedov sold the shirt that Poirier gave him for $100,000 and donated all of the money to Poirier’s charity “The Good Fight Foundation.” UFC President Dana White later matched the gesture from Nurmagomedov.
April 2020 – Tragedy
With COVID-19 wreaking havoc across the world, the fifth, and likely final, scheduled bout between Tony Ferguson and Nurmagomedov was canceled after travel restriction left Khabib stranded in Russia. Ferguson went on to fight Justin Gaethje at UFC 249 on the later date of May 9 but was soundly defeated.
Whilst this was taking place, tragedy was striking the Nurmagomedov family. Khabib’s father Abdulmanap was diagnosed with COVID-19 while in the hospital and later underwent heart surgery for a pre- existing condition that was exacerbated by the virus.
Like the great man he was, Abdulmanap fought hard, but on July 3 it was announced that he’d passed away at a clinic in Moscow. The MMA community was stunned at the loss. At the age of 57, Abdulmanap had been taken away from his family too early, but his legacy will forever live on.
October 2020 – Retirement
Following the loss of his father, just three months later Khabib returned to the UFC Octagon to face Justin Gaethje on UFC Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.
Despite injuries, illnesses and the heartbreak of not having his father around him, Khabib put on an incredible display to submit Gaethje in the second round. Teammate Daniel Cormier later claimed Nurmagomedov transitioned from an armbar to a triangle so that he wouldn’t injure the interim titleholder. A claim you would only truly believe if said about Khabib.
Seconds after securing victory, Nurmagomedov sank to his knees and
let out all the emotions of the past year. With a perfect 29-0 record, Khabib then immediately retired from the sport, stating that he’d promised his mother that he wouldn’t fight without his father at his side.
It was an emotional night, but a beautiful one, in which Khabib paid the greatest tribute he could to his late father.
2021 onwards – Vacating the title and transitioning to coaching
On March 19, 2021, UFC President Dana White officially announced that the UFC lightweight title had been vacated.
Whilst retired from fighting, Khabib remains active within the sport with a 3-1 UFC cornering record having accompanied teammate Islam Makhachev as well as his cousins Usman and Abubakar Nurmagomedov to the Octagon.
It appears now that Khabib’s main focus is to continue the great work of his father and create further world champions. Suffice to say, you would be foolish to rule out Khabib being a future World MMA Awards ‘Coach of the Year.’
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