Khabib Nurmagomedov names the only four UFC fights he watched this year, says he'll wake up for Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira
Khabib Nurmagomedov recently sat down with UFC Russia ahead of Islam Makhachev's UFC 280 title bout against Charles Oliveira. The former 155lb champ is a coach and close friend of Makhachev's and will be rooting for the Russian challenger during his Abu Dhabi bout.
During the interview, Khabib Nurmagomedov stated that he has had little interest in watching UFC fights since his retirement. However, he also revealed the four bouts he has specifically woken up early for to watch this year:
"Kamaru Usman [vs. Leon Edwards], yes. I don't know why but I wanted him to beat that record. Francis Ngannou vs. Ciryl Gane. That was this year, right? I woke up for that one. There was another one, Petr Yan! I woke up for Yan vs. Aljamain Sterling. I couldn't have missed it. I was really interested in it. I would have definitely woken up for this one but I was there watching it live, Mateusz Gamrot vs. Arman Tsarukyan. I was fortunate enough to watch it live."
'The Eagle' added that he will be waking up to watch Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira at UFC 281 next month:
"I'll wake up for Adesanya vs. Pereira. That'll be interesting."
Catch the full interview here:
Legendary UFC coach Javier Mendez has backed Khabib Nurmagomedov to be one of the greatest MMA coaches of all time
Since retiring from MMA in 2020, Nurmagomedov has successfully transitioned into coaching. He has remained on UFC screens when walking to the octagon with fighters such as Islam Makhachev.
Javier Mendez, who trained 'The Eagle' throughout his career, believes the Russian is well on his way to becoming a significant coach in the sport due to his success working with Makhachev as well as other talent in the UFC.
The American Kickboxing Academy coach recently appeared on the UFC's YouTube channel and praised Khabib Nurmagomedov, stating that he has all the attributes to become a top coach:
"He's [Khabib'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, he's been doing that forever... 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."
Catch the interview with Javier Mendez here: