"It's not polite" - Khabib Nurmagomedov takes exception to a reporter's question about his weight
Khabib Nurmagomedov seemingly took exception to a reporter’s question about his weight.
At a recent media scrum, Khabib Nurmagomedov fielded questions regarding multiple topics, one of which happened to be about his current weight.
In response to a reporter asking him how much he currently weighs, Khabib Nurmagomedov smiled and asked the reporter how much the latter weighs. Nurmagomedov then jested that one should never ask a woman or a wrestler their age and weight.
The reporter then suggested that while it’s a well-known societal tenet that it’s considered rude to ask a woman her age and weight, he was unaware that the same applies to wrestlers as well. Khabib Nurmagomedov replied by stating:
“Of course. You don’t even ask a wrestler’s age. And never ask about weight. I know wrestlers like Mr. Magomedov here. He just made the Olympic team. Ask him how the guys weigh in.”
Khabib then enacted how the wrestlers hide their weight and said, “They stand like this and hide their weight. So, it’s not polite to ask about weight.”
Additionally, Khabib Nurmagomedov was questioned about whether he now weighs the highest he’s ever weighed, in response to which 'The Eagle' revealed:
“No. I’ve weighed more. That was 2017, when I had back surgery. When I was given a fight on August 31st, I weighed at 203 pounds. Then on December 29th, I weighed 155. I weighed my most because when I had surgery, I couldn’t run or lift weights for 5-6 months. Now, I weigh a lot less.” (*Video and translation courtesy: RT Sport MMA)
Watch the video below:
Khabib Nurmagomedov highlighted that his current weight is not the heaviest he’s ever been and that he weighed heavier than this around the time of his back surgery a few years ago.
Cutting down to lightweight was a rather challenging task for the otherwise dominant MMA legend Khabib Nurmagomedov
Khabib Nurmagomedov has been known to struggle to keep his weight down, particularly during his time as a lightweight MMA fighter. Nurmagomedov has competed at both lightweight and welterweight during his long and storied MMA career.
Nevertheless, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s entire UFC run transpired in the lightweight division. He did, however, compete in a couple of catchweight bouts in the UFC. One of his two UFC catchweight matchups was contested at 160 pounds against Darrell Horcher in April 2016 due to Horcher stepping in on short notice to replace the injured Tony Ferguson.
Another instance was when Nurmagomedov competed in a catchweight bout against Abel Trujillo in May 2013, after Nurmagomedov missed weight for the fight. 'The Eagle' weighed in at 158.5 pounds, 2.5lbs over the non-title bout lightweight limit. Regardless, he went on to dominate Trujillo and win the fight via unanimous decision.
During Khabib Nurmagomedov’s UFC career at lightweight, the MMA community was often rife with speculation regarding him having trouble cutting down to make the lightweight limit. The consensus is that although Khabib Nurmagomedov almost missed weight on more than one occasion, he somehow managed to shed the extra pounds and make weight.
Another notable example of Khabib Nurmagomedov struggling with his weight cut came at UFC 209 in March 2017. Nurmagomedov was scheduled to face Tony Ferguson for the interim UFC lightweight title but had to pull out of the fight.
'The Eagle' suffered a severe health scare owing to a botched weight cut and was hospitalized, due to which he was unable to compete at UFC 209.
Khabib Nurmagomedov retired from the sport of MMA in October 2020 and has consistently maintained that he doesn’t intend to return to active MMA competition ever again.
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