Coach Javier Mendez beleives Khabib Nurmagomedov will be the greatest coach of all time
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Khabib Nurmagomedov and Javier Mendez
Khabib Nurmagomedov retired from UFC at the top in the year 2020. Since then, Khabib has stuck to his words and never came back to fight. However, the former UFC lightweight champion made.his presence visible as an MMA promoter and an active coach.
Currently, Nurmagomedov is busy taking his father’s Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov legacy to the next level. The ‘Eagle’ has taken his role as a coach very seriously. Javier Mendez, the head coach of AKA academy who trained Nurmagomedov for years is the one who sees him very closely. In a recent interview with UFC Unfiltered revealed coaching is not something new for Nurmagomedov.
“He’s been coaching forever. Even when he was fighting, he was coaching. He’d be sparring through these five rounds and all of a sudden he’d be sitting there with us coaching the guys,” said Mendez.
According to Mendez, Nurmagomedov has the potential to be the best coach of all time considering his qualities.
He said: “He’s learned from me, he’s learned from his father, mostly his father. But to me, he’s on track, in my opinion, because of his age, what he’s doing, the camp I see, the fighters he has, he’s on track to being the greatest coach of all time, in my opinion. I see it. I see the writing on the wall.”
Nurmagomedov is currently coaching many Russian fighters including Islam Makhachev. The Dagestani group respects Nurmagomedov a lot and their bond is extremely special.
Khabib Nurmagomedov’s biggest challenge as a coach against Charles Oliveira
Nurmagomedov has been training Islam Makhachev for a long time now. The pair have known each other since childhood and the synergy between them is unmatched. One of the recent examples was during Makhachev’s fight with Dan Hooker. In that fight, the Dagestani immediately got a hold of Hooker but couldn’t find the perfect submission. However, with Nurmagomedov’s inputs from the octagon side, Islam finished Hooker easily.
Makhachev is currently all set to fight Charles Oliveira for the UFC lightweight champion and it indirectly involves Nurmagomedov. When Oliveira became the champion, fans started comparing him with Nurmagomedov and started speculating who would win if they had fought. The fight between Makhachev and Oliveira is the closest to that fight. Consequently, as Makhachev’s coach, this fight is the biggest challenge for Nurmagomedov.
Apart from Makhachev, there are two other fighters who are training with Khabib to fight at UFC 280. Zubaira Tukhugov is facing Lucas Almeida, and Khabib’s cousin Abubakar Nurmagomedov will be facing Gadzhi Omargadzhie. If three of the fighters from “The Eagle’s” camp wins at UFC 280, it would certainly be a night to remember for Khabib.
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Soumya Ranjan
(2167 Articles Published)