"The only guy who made Khabib flinch"- When CZN Burak's pranks on Khabib Nurmagomedov brought out hilarious reactions from fans
Khabib Nurmagomedov's stoic demeanor is partly due to spending periods of his childhood in the mountains of Dagestan.
The former lightweight champion was molded into a hardy character through his environment. Years ago, footage of a young Nurmagomedov wrestling with adolescent brown bears in Russia swept over the internet like wildfire. 'The Eagle' has also previously spoken about the tough conditions he would deal with during training camps as a teenager.
Khabib Nurmagomedov's perfect MMA record of 29-0 exemplifies the lack of fear he has towards his opponents. 'The Eagle' would overwhelm fighters with constant pressure, with little regard for what was being thrown his way.
However, it appears that one man was able to make the former champion lose his composure momentarily, none other than famous chef CZN Burak. The viral chef has hosted 'The Eagle' at his restaurants numerous times, where he pranks Nurmagomedov by pretending to drop steaming-hot dishes on his lap.
The pranks have caused Khabib Nurmagomedov to flinch several times, much to the former champion's delight.
Watch the video below:
Fans found the footage hilarious, as many claimed that CZN Burak was the first man to make 'The Eagle' flinch. See the comments below:
"The only guy to make Khabib flinch"
"Khabib grapples even when going in for a hug"
"The most 'establishing control'uhug I've ever seen"
"29 fighters in cage couldn't scare kabib for once. CZN Burak : hold on a sec"
"hug? wut is dis?… oh Dagestan handcuff wit underarm control ok yes"
"Khabib fears one thing. The wasting of food"
How similar were the UFC careers of Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev pre-title win?
A statistic has recently been posted online by MMA accout @freak.mma that proves how similar Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev's UFC careers were before winning the title.
Makhachev's KO defeat against Adriano Martins is the most obvious difference between his career and that of 'The Eagle'. But there are many similarities between them, including the total octagon time each lightweight had before fighting for the UFC title.
Islam Makhachev has been labeled as Khabib 2.0 by several training partners in the past, as both men employ similar styles of fighting while thoroughly dominating their opponents.
According to @freak.mma, a mere five seconds is all the seperates the amount of time each man spent in octagon before their first UFC title fight.
"Islam Makhachev's octagon time until getting a title fight (1:50:07)"
"Khabib Nurmagomedov's octagon time until getting a title fight (1:50:12)"
See the post below: