Watch: Early Khabib Nurmagomedov fight footage proves he was a submission master before joining the UFC
UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has taken to his official social media account to put forth a throwback post that features his seventh professional MMA bout.
Nurmagomedov made his professional MMA debut in 2008. In the ensuing years, he went on to scale great heights of success in the sport of MMA and the realm of combat sports as a whole.
The vast majority of MMA fans and experts are more than familiar with Nurmagomedov’s dominance inside the UFC’s famed octagon in recent years.
However, The Eagle showed promise as a young up-and-comer as well, and this is something that often tends to get overlooked. Khabib Nurmagomedov ran through his opposition right from the beginning of his career, with many of his early performances being rather underappreciated.
Nurmagomedov took to his Facebook account and posted a video of his seventh professional MMA bout. This was the fight in which 'The Eagle' took on Shahbulat Shamhalaev at M-1 Challenge: 2009 Selections 9.
Nurmagomedov dominated the bout and defeated Shamhalaev with a vicious armbar in the very first round. The legendary fighter from Dagestan, Russia, has now taken to Facebook and harked back to his aforementioned submission victory. Nurmagomedov’s statement on the post read:
“Always Looking For The Submission... Back In 2009! Fight #7 After Just 14 Months After Turning Pro.”
There’s an air of uncertainty surrounding Khabib Nurmagomedov’s MMA future
Khabib Nurmagomedov last competed in a UFC lightweight title unification matchup against Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 on October 24th, 2020.
Nurmagomedov dominated Gaethje throughout the matchup and ended up securing a technical submission victory via triangle choke in round two.
The Eagle impressively bested Gaethje and successfully unified the UFC lightweight championship, but then proceeded to send shockwaves throughout the combat sports world by announcing his retirement from the sport of MMA.
Nurmagomedov retired with a 29-0 professional MMA record and subsequently revealed that he’d made a promise to his mother that the fight against Gaethje would be his final MMA bout.
Khabib’s father and lifelong coach Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov passed away due to complications related to COVID-19 in July of this year. Khabib explained that his mother doesn’t want him to continue his MMA career without his father Abdulmanap in his corner.
Nurmagomedov has consistently asserted that he has no intentions of coming out of retirement. Regardless, his manager Ali Abdelaziz as well as UFC President Dana White have suggested that Nurmagomedov could return to MMA for one more fight in the UFC to try and take his MMA record to 30-0.
Nurmagomedov is set to meet White in Abu Dhabi in the days to come, in order to help bring clarity to his current standing in the sport of MMA and in the UFC.