Coach names the one thing he warned Khabib Nurmagomedov about Conor McGregor ahead of their grudge match
Coach Javier Mendez named one thing that he warned Khabib Nurmagomedov about ahead of his grudge match against Conor McGregor.
Nurmagomedov and McGregor had one of the biggest rivalries that the sport of MMA has ever seen. Things got very personal between the two as 'The Notorious' involved the Dagestani's family and religion in an attempt to get into his head.
While Khabib Nurmagomedov went on to beat Conor McGregor, his coach, Javier Mendez, spoke about how he had to prepare Nurmagomedov mentally to not let the trash talk affect him. During an exclusive interview with Lord Ping, Mendez said:
"I told Khabib everyday he's going to come after your family, religion and your country. We talked about that for months leading up to the fight, and sure enough he did what any scumbag fighter would do. If you're a scumbag fighter you come after those things and you shouldn't. Come after the fighter fine, but using country and religion should never be allowed. This is a competition. It's not life or death, but you're making it life of death by bringing in religion and country. I wish fighters would never do that.”
Khabib Nurmagomedov speaks on Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira 2
Islam Makhachev is set to defend his UFC lightweight title against Charles Oliveira in a highly anticipated rematch in October. Speaking of the same, Khabib Nurmagomedov claimed that it would be a tough outing for both fighters in general but tougher than the first outing for Makhachev as 'do Bronx' has nothing to lose.
Khabib Nurmagomedov had this to say in an interview with Gorilla Fighting:
“Will the rematch be more difficult than the first fight? Yes, it's more difficult. For Islam there will be more risk. Oliveira has nothing to lose, he has already lost. If in the first fight he had any concerns and so on, now he doesn’t. I don't think it will be an easy fight for both of them. For Islam, the second fight will be harder than the first. This is my purely personal opinion.”
Catch Nurmagomedov's comments below: