Watch: When Khabib Nurmagomedov's father schooled him during grappling exchange
Khabib Nurmagomedov is a legend in the world of mixed martial arts. It is well known that the fighting skills of 'The Eagle' were shaped by his father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov. Let us take a look at the two training together:
Incredibly, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov successfully took his champion son down with the help of a masterful trip. Khabib Nurmagomedov specializes in taking his opponents down and mauling his way to victory.
Whatever 'The Eagle' has learnt about the sport, he has learnt from his old man. At a very tender age, Khabib began training under his father who used to teach other kids wrestling, combat sambo, etc.
Khabib Nurmagomedov developed a thorough interest by watching his father train the older kids, and soon became his father's protege.
Under Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, Khabib Nurmagomedov became the unbeatable force that he is today. When he was young, he trained in wrestling, judo, and combat sambo before completely shifting his focus to MMA.
Abdulmanap was at Khabib's corner throughout his career, and Khabib continued to train under him until his fight with Justin Gaethje.
July 2020 saw the unfortunate passing of Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov. Khabib Nurmagomedov had always gone into the Octagon with the support of his father. With his demise, Khabib decided to part ways with the fight game as well. After defeating Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in October 2020, Khabib Nurmagomedov announced his retirement from professional MMA.
Will Khabib Nurmagomedov fill in his father's shoes and begin coaching MMA?
Khabib Nurmagomedov is a phenomenal athlete, and his impeccable record of 29-0 begs the question: Will he help train others to be like him?
The answer is, yes.
Whether 'The Eagle' will transition into a full-fledged coach or not remains unknown. Nevertheless, on the way back from his fight at UFC 254, Khabib revealed that he will definitely help in bringing up the next generation of MMA fighters.
Furthermore, he regularly helps teammates in training and during matches. More often than not, he appears in their corners and provides guidance to his teammates during fights.
The most recent example of such a sighting was UFC 259. Khabib Nurmagomedov's teammate, Islam Makhachev, made his comeback to the Octagon after two long years of inactivity. His comeback proved just as desirable as one could hope for it to be.
Islam Makhachev dominated Drew Dober for the entire fight before forcing him to tap out to a Von Flue choke.
Khabib was the first to rush in and congratulate Islam on his victory. He has even said that he sees Islam Makhachev as the next ruler of UFC's lightweight division.