Has Petr Yan ever trained with Khabib Nurmagomedov?
Follow Us
Petr Yan and Khabib Nurmagomedov
Petr Yan has established himself as a popular superstar in the UFC in the last few years. The former Bantamweight world champion has an incredible set of skills inside the octagon and is one of the biggest names from Russia.
When talking about Russian fighters, it is hard not to mention the former lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov. After Nurmagomedov, Yan is probably the biggest fighter who is still representing Russia.
As expected, Yan and Nurmagomedov know each other well and share a great relationship outside the octagon Yan in the past has been spotted training with the Dagestani team and has also posted clips of him training with Nurmagomedov. Both the fighters have helped each other to lose weight for fights and it’s not a secret.
After Yan won the interim UFC Bantamweight championship against Cory Sandhagen at UFC 267, he was seen meeting with Nurmagomedov’s team and shaking hands with them.
‘The Eagle’ also respects and speaks very highly of Yan and his legacy. In one interview, Nurmagomedov was asked about his opinions on the best Russian fighters in UFC and Nurmagomedov named Yan as the best in the Bantamweight division. He said: “That’s a difficult question. I don’t want to forget anyone. Let’s look at weight divisions. At Bantamweight it’s Petr Yan.”
It seems like both Russians have an amazing relationship and respect for each other. Yan has proved from time to time that he has what it takes to be one the best in the sport however, to do that he will have to take back the belt that he lost to Aljamain Sterling last year.
Khabib Nurmagomedov confirms Petr Yan’s corner made a mistake at UFC 259
Petr Yan lost his belt against Aljamain Sterling last year at UFC 259. Yan dominated the fight from the start and it continued for four rounds. However, in the last minute of the fourth round, Sterling was on the floor and Yan landed an illegal knee forcing the referee to stop the fight immediately.
Yan was disqualified and Sterling won the fight to become the new Bantamweight champion. However, in the aftermath, while watching Yan’s corner footage, Daniel Cormier from the commentary team revealed that Khabib Nurmagomedov who was present inside the octagon side heard Yan’s team telling the fighter to deliver the kick.
DC said: “Well guys, you can hear, right? One guy says ‘just punch’, but then somebody in that corner goes ‘yes’ when he says ‘kick’. It is in Russian, Khabib heard it sitting over here because we couldn’t understand the language. But someone in that corner yelled ‘yes’ and then Petr Yan landed an illegal knee that ultimately cost him the UFC championship.”
When Yan was asked about the incident during the post-fight press conference, the Russian revealed that he failed to comprehend what his team told him which resulted in the miscommunication.
“To be honest I didn’t really understand what they were telling me. I was just focused on the hand and focused on throwing the knee when he will be up,” said Yan.
Also Read: WATCH: Sean O’Malley gets shoved by FURIOUS Petr Yan at UFC 280 press conference
Yan is currently focused on getting back his title and will be thinking about a title rematch with Sterling as soon as possible. It will be interesting to see the trilogy between these two Bantamweight fighters in the future.
Stay Updated!
Soumya Ranjan
(2167 Articles Published)