LAS VEGAS — It’s Jan. 1, and Khabib Nurmagomedov is spending the beginning of this new yr the identical means he has spent most of his life. He’s lined in sweat, seated on a wrestling mat. Today, that mat is within the UFC Performance Institute, half a world away from his residence and household in Dagestan. He has been right here for 3 weeks now — which for him is three weeks too lengthy.
“I do not like this, to be sincere,” says Nurmagomedov, who prefers the simplicity and privateness of his residence to the lights of Las Vegas. “Why anybody like this?”
It’s the tip of a two-hour follow, and the rationale Nurmagomedov is right here is surrounding him on the mat: a bunch of 20 fighters. Islam Makhachev, UFC champion. Umar Nurmagomedov, UFC title challenger. There are a number of fighters with undefeated MMA information on this room, together with a Muay Thai world champion and a silver medalist Olympic wrestler.
They make up, arguably, the best crew within the historical past of fight sports activities, and proper now, all of their consideration is targeted squarely on Nurmagomedov.
“It’s not my job to say you might be good,” he says, after going via a listing of enhancements for them to make. “I’m right here to make you higher.”
It’s custom with this crew for the coach to handle the athletes after every follow. For greater than 30 years, that duty was held by Nurmagomedov’s father, Abdulmanap. He was the crew’s founder and lifeblood. The one who first assembled the core of this group after they had been youngsters in Sildi, a small mountain village in Dagestan, and turned them into the MMA powerhouse they’re in the present day.
Abdulmanap’s legacy shall be on full show at UFC 311 this weekend in Inglewood, California (ESPN+ PPV, Saturday at 10 p.m. ET). Makhachev (26-1) will defend his light-weight title towards Arman Tsarukyan in the principle occasion at Intuit Dome. Umar (18-0), who’s Nurmagomedov’s cousin, will problem bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili within the co-main occasion. A 3rd crew member, flyweight Tagir Ulanbekov (15-2), may obtain a top-10 rating with a win within the prelims.
The historic night time will happen with out Abdulmanap. The legendary coach died at 57 in 2020, because of issues of COVID-19. Khabib retired from active competition shortly after, and instantly inherited his father’s position as coach. Truthfully, he is prepared for a distinct chapter of his life. He has served — and continues to serve — his father’s crew out of a way of duty, not need.
And the duty is a heavy one. Coaching at a championship stage at all times is, after all, however it runs deeper than that for Nurmagomedov. He is the one one who can carry his father’s plan to completion — and that alone is what makes it so troublesome. He needs to be his father, as a result of his father is not right here. And how does somebody develop into the one individual of their life they miss most?
“When Khabib’s father handed, he needed nothing to do with MMA — that piece of his coronary heart virtually died,” Ali Abdelaziz, Nurmagomedov’s longtime supervisor and good friend, instructed ESPN. “And now, it is like reminding him of his father in all places he goes, each health club, each exercise. He has to develop into his father, proper? And he would not need this, as a result of he would like his father was nonetheless right here — and he may stand behind him.”
ABDULMANAP NURMAGOMEDOV WAS born to teach.
He grew up in a rural Dagestani village within the Nineteen Sixties and devoted himself to his research and freestyle wrestling. At 18, he went into the Russian army, the place he discovered sambo, a type of hand-to-hand fight, and judo. His coaches and mentors had been, in Khabib’s phrases, “old-fashioned.” There was a critical depth utilized to Abdulmanap’s coaching and studying, and he finally handed that on to his college students.
“He was very disciplined,” Nurmagomedov instructed ESPN. “He got here again to our village and commenced coaching the youth in 1985, and saved coaching till his final days. And some folks, they study issues however there isn’t a self-discipline. There is not any power. There is not any information. He was very educated, and he used to inform all of us that we needed to be educated. So many issues got here collectively [for him as a coach].”
Abdulmanap’s grappling fashion is now acknowledged worldwide, because of his son. His father’s fashion allowed Nurmagomedov to go 29-0, and created viral moments resembling him speaking to Dana White cageside throughout a battle in New York, as he simply managed and pummeled his opponent. Nurmagomedov’s method dominated Conor McGregor in a submission win in 2018, one of many most-watched fights in UFC historical past.
That famend fashion mixed with Abdulmanap’s perception in self-discipline has made his steady of fighters just about unbeatable. The core group of Khabib, Makhachev, Umar Nurmagomedov and his youthful brother, Bellator MMA light-weight champion Usman Nurmagomedov, have a mixed document of 91-1.
“I can describe this in a single phrase: sacrifice,” Nurmagomedov stated of his crew’s unmatched success. “People discuss self-discipline, however generally self-discipline shouldn’t be sufficient. If you need to develop into one of the best, there isn’t a household. If you need to spend time with your loved ones and youngsters, be with them. You’re going to develop into one of the best household man, and I’m not towards household folks.
“I simply say, ‘If you need to develop into one of the best on this enterprise, you need to sacrifice. Sacrifice your time, sacrifice your well being, sacrifice all the pieces you might have.'”
Nurmagomedov’s sacrifice as a fighter resulted in 2020, after he defended his UFC light-weight championship for the third time. He was on prime of the MMA world on the time, broadly thought-about the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, however stated he couldn’t proceed to compete with out his father.
He took over Abdulmanap’s position as coach, and guided his lifelong teammate Makhachev to the UFC’s 155-pound championship with a win over Charles Oliveira in October 2022. After that battle, Nurmagomedov tried to stroll away. He stopped cornering his fighters and publicly stated he had no intention of ever doing so once more. The battle world felt his departure, however the crew felt it extra. Abdulmanap was a reminiscence, and now, so was his son.
“When he stated he wasn’t going to nook the blokes, I felt unhappy as a result of we want him, you recognize?” American Kickboxing Academy head coach Javier Mendez stated. Mendez additionally assists in teaching the fighters who prepare with Nurmagomedov. “We want his presence. He’s meant to steer these guys. And they missed him. His presence is big for his or her morale.”
An complete yr glided by, and Nurmagomedov continued to maintain a distance from the game. In October 2023, after Makhachev defended his title towards Alexander Volkanovski with out Nurmagomedov in his nook, Nurmagomedov wrote on Instagram, “If you guys ask me the place have I been? Why I wasn’t within the nook, I already answered this query. … I fully left all the pieces associated to MMA. I ask you to simply accept my choice.”
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Islam Makhachev faucets Dustin Poirier to retain light-weight championship
Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier face off in a relentless battle for the light-weight championship, earlier than Poirier faucets within the fifth spherical.
The crew continued to do nicely, even with out Nurmagomedov’s presence. Makhachev defended his belt twice. Umar continued to stack wins and climb the UFC’s 135-pound ranks. Usman (18-0) won his title in Bellator MMA in dominant style. But, after all, it wasn’t the identical. The group had actually grown up collectively within the health club. They had been used to being within the health club coaching with Nurmagomedov. It wasn’t the identical with out him.
And as time went on, Nurmagomedov could not disguise from that actuality. He tried to provide enter from a distance however got here to comprehend it was unimaginable. Championship fights come all the way down to the advantageous particulars, and people particulars are received or misplaced within the coaching room, not contained in the Octagon. After that realization, Nurmagomedov returned to the crew forward of Makhachev’s final title protection towards Dustin Poirier at UFC 302. Nurmagomedov was in Makhachev’s nook for that battle. The crew’s objective is perfection, and perfection requires sacrifice.
“Sometimes, what you assume goes to be one of the best finally ends up incorrect,” Nurmagomedov stated. “It was extra irritating to be away. I need to be with my youngsters, however I’ve to share my information with my brothers, as a result of once I was on my approach to changing into champion, they had been with me, you recognize? I’ve to be right here.”
MAKHACHEV, WHO HAS adopted in Nurmagomedov’s footsteps as not solely the UFC’s light-weight champion however the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter on this planet, has skilled inside Abdulmanap’s system his complete life. And that system stays very a lot intact in 2025 — though, there are occasions he’ll discover slight variations beneath its new management.
For occasion, since Makhachev was younger, he has endured grappling practices wherein he’s pressured to endure a number of high-intensity, five-minute rounds, damaged up by solely one-minute rests. Under Nurmagomedov, he has discovered himself, at occasions, grappling a spherical that’s 3 times as lengthy.
“I finished him and was like, ‘Hey, man, I coaching with you all my life, I do not keep in mind after we grappled for quarter-hour nonstop,'” Makhachev recalled with fun. “‘We have guidelines. One and a half hours of coaching and it is completed. You need to comply with the principles.’ And [Coach Mendez] will not cease him. He says, ‘This man loves you and needs you to be within the cage one hundred pc.’ And I perceive and simply take heed to him.”
Other than maybe that uptick in depth, Nurmagomedov’s teaching fashion is almost equivalent to his father’s, in accordance with the crew. It is unimaginable to elucidate away any tardiness to follow or any lack in power stage throughout it. There are tales of younger fighters lining up exterior of Abdulmanap’s workplace going again many years, looking for recommendation not simply on preventing however on all areas of life. Today, they line up looking for recommendation from his son.
Nurmagomedov has made it clear that the lives and careers of his fighters are as much as them, however he nonetheless has that stoic honesty he had as a fighter. He has instructed Makhachev, as an example, he ought to retire inside two years, in order to not battle previous his prime. He instructed his cousin, Umar, he should not compete throughout the Muslim fasting interval of Ramadan, when Umar was contemplating it because of the unending pressures of the UFC schedule.
Every member of the crew is aware of how lucky they’re to have him by their aspect. They additionally all acknowledge the life he continues to placed on maintain for his or her profit. Makhachev is aware of his brother in arms would like to be at residence, spending valuable time together with his household — and never in Las Vegas, “coaching” for UFC 311 (Nurmagomedov has been burning energy on the treadmill in anticipation of the bodily calls for of cornering three fights).
Once the core group of Makhachev, Umar, Usman and different longtime crew members are completed, Nurmagomedov says that he, too, will lastly be completed. He very a lot seems ahead to that day, however in the interim, he’ll end the job his father began all these years in the past. He will sacrifice.
“When these guys end, I’m going to complete,” he stated. “I hope it should be very quick, as a result of I’m uninterested in all this. We have been on prime of this recreation, like, seven or eight years. We virtually by no means lose. We have fought everybody around the globe. Japan, Middle East, Europe, U.S., South America — we battle and virtually by no means lose. We have so many belts, so many champions.
“It’s all about sacrifice. And all of those guys, they had been with my father from the start. Yeah, after they end, I’m going to complete, too.”
