UFC Profiles: Khabib Nurmagomedov

 

Khabib Nurmagomedov is a 32-year-old former mixed martial artist coming out of the republic of Dagestan. After his bout against Justin Gaethje, he retired undefeated with a lofty record of 29-0. In this profile, I will be documenting all of his fights with the UFC and his difficult journey to becoming champion.

 Khabib Nurmagomedov started his professional MMA career in 2008 competing and winning 16 fights in three years. This level of domination in the regional circuits of Russia grabbed the UFC's attention in signing the young prospect. However, problems began to arise with the promotion Khabib was fighting in, which was PRO FC. Khabib wrote in his autobiography that PRO FC took them to court 11 times over Khabib's contract. They later came to an agreement, and Khabib was allowed to move on to the UFC.

The UFC signed him on a 6 fight deal in the lightweight division (70kg). Khabib made his debut on the 20th of January 2012 against Kamal Shalorus who was just coming off a defeat against Jim Miller by TKO. Khabib proceeded to knock Kamal down in the first round and then finished him by submission in the third round.

Nurmagomedov's next fight proved to be his most controversial. He was up against Gleison Tibau, a man hailed by Joe Rogan as a master of weight cutting. This was evident as when Tibau entered the octagon, the man looked like a welterweight! The fight proved difficult for Khabib as he could not land one of his 13 attempts at a takedown. The fight consisted of constant pressure from Khabib, to no avail, as commentators such as Joe Rogan were predicting Khabib's first loss. The judges did not see it that way and gave Khabib a unanimous decision. 

5 months later Khabib went up against Thiago Tavares, where he won via a vicious KO. Surprisingly, after the fight, Thiago tested positive for an anabolic steroid. This, however, did not make any difference in the fight against Khabib, who was now rising through the ranks.

Khabib's next fight was the first fight in which there was a weight problem. At the weigh-ins to fight Abel Trujillo, Khabib weighed in at 158.5lbs. This was 2.5lbs above the required 156lb limit they were fighting at. Khabib had the option of either continuing his weight cut for 2 hours or deducting part of his purse; Khabib chose the latter. A backstage insult raised tensions that were already apparent due to missing weight. This led to an altercation when the two men faced off. Boxing legend Mike Tyson was present when this happened and was visibly excited. Khabib won via unanimous decision and set a record for the most takedowns in a single fight, with 21 successful out of 28 attempts.

Khabib's next fight was against Pat Healy, in which Dana White praised the 'Matt Hughes' style Khabib was using.  Many of the hurdles Khabib had to face in his career started emerging after this fight with Khabib, challenging Gilbert Melendez only for the bout to be cancelled for undisclosed reasons. The UFC tried to find a replacement in Nate Diaz but he declined the fight. This angered Khabib, who took to social media to express his disappointment.

Rafael Dos Anjos, currently a veteran of the sport and former champion, was Khabib's next victim. During the weigh-ins, Khabib stirred up some drama by wearing a shirt stating 'If sambo was easy it would be called Jiu Jitsu' to which Dos Anjos said "I am going to shut him up so he knows not to speak ill of jiu-jitsu". The anger Dos Anjos showed did not change the outcome of the fight, with Khabib winning by unanimous decision.

Khabib's next scheduled fight fell through due to injury on his part. Speculated opponent Cerrone was supposed to fight Khabib at UFC 178 and UFC 187 but on both occasions Nurmagomedov sustained a knee injury.

This would be the start of Khabib's spur of bad luck with his next fight against Tony Ferguson being cancelled due to injury on his part and then when they tried to reschedule, Ferguson pulled out due to a lung issue. On the second occasion, a replacement by the name of Darell Horcher arrived to fight against Khabib. Darrell Horcher was a promotional newcomer with a 12-1 record at the time. Khabib won this fight via brutal TKO in the second round.

After the fight, title contention grew closer for Khabib as he received two contracts for a bout against champion Eddie Alvarez at either UFC 205 or 206. The fight was confirmed to be at UFC 205 but in a turn of events, the UFC announced that Eddie Alvarez will be fighting Conor McGregor instead. Khabib voiced his frustration and anger towards Eddie Alvarez on Twitter, stating: 'Your time will come to get my hands on you.'

Khabib took out his anger on his next opponent, the very experienced Michael Johnson. Fighting on the UFC 205 card headlining the McGregor vs Alvarez fight, Khabib dominated Michael Johnson, taking him down and talking to him throughout the entirety of the fight until he submitted him in the third round. He was even spotted talking to Dana in between rounds shouting: "I'm gonna smash your boy (Conor McGregor)."This marked the start of talks in fights for Khabib which we will see in his next fights.

The UFC booked Khabib's next fight against Tony Ferguson. This marked the third time this fight was scheduled and, like the previous ones, they were cancelled due to a bad weight cut on Khabib's part. The cancellation spurred the tiramisu meme, which was created by fans noticing Khabib eating a tiramisu on one of the embedded vlogs. Khabib would later deny this on Ariel Helwani's show, saying his teammates were the ones eating the food because they were not fighting.

Khabib's next fight was against Edson Barboza, a man who was hailed as one of the most dangerous strikers in the division. Many MMA analysts were speculating whether Khabib had the tools to get past the striking of Edson Barboza. Ahead of the fight, Khabib employed a nutritionist to ensure he succeeded at getting to 155. He did this successfully and even joked in an interview with Megan Olivi that he is ready to go down to 145lbs. Khabib went into the fight and dominated Edson Barboza for 3 rounds to get the unanimous decision.

After the performance of the night bonus, Khabib was finally offered a title shot at UFC 223. His opponent was none other than his rival Tony Ferguson. A fun fact that was revealed in Khabib's autobiography KhabibTime is that one of the main motivations for sticking to fighting in the UFC while he was injured was the fact that Khabib wanted to dominate Tony Ferguson. This would be taken away from him again as Ferguson pulled out due to an injury sustained after tripping on a wire. This led the UFC to scramble around trying to get another fighter to fill in the slot. Max Holloway stepped up and had the opportunity to conquer two divisions but he ultimately had to drop out due to health issues regarding his weight cut. Al Iaquinta stepped up and fought Khabib but a short notice replacement did not change anything as Khabib dominated every round, winning the title via unanimous decision.

On the 6th October 2018, Khabib was set to fight his rival Conor McGregor in his first title defence that garnered the attention of the world, racking up the most pay per view in the history of the UFC. The press conferences were widely covered, as it was expected that there would be some brutal mental warfare on McGregor's part. This proved to be true as Conor came out of the press conference having mocked Khabib's religion, father and nation. Khabib dominated the first two rounds with his superior grappling and even knocked down the Irishman. Khabib constantly taunted Conor throughout the fight, shouting "let's talk" after hitting his opponent with a blow. To everyone's surprise, Conor's only reply was "its only business". However, the Irishman did controversially win the third round where Khabib opted to stand and bang with arguably one of the best strikers in the division. Conor, being very wary of the constant threat of takedowns, was happy to stand with Khabib but looked too tired to capitalise on any opportunities. Khabib later submitted Conor via submission. After disposing of his rival, a now heated Khabib decided to attack Dillon Danis, a teammate of Conor. Khabib was suspended for 9 months and fined $500,000.

In June of 2019, Khabib signed a new multi-fight deal with the UFC. His next title defence would be against interim world champion Dustin Poirer. However, a spark of hype was ignited due to Ali Abdel Aziz, Khabib's manager, stating that there would be a clause in Khabib's contract that would be used in the event of a fight with GSP. Khabib's father had always displayed a keen interest in his son fighting him, as GSP had always been the dream fight for the two.

Dustin set his eyes on unifying his belt against Khabib at Abu Dhabi UFC 242. His desire to be champion was not enough as Khabib dictated where the fight was going from start to finish. Khabib finished Dustin in the third round via submission. After the fight, a display of respect occurred as the two combatants swapped shirts. Khabib proclaimed in his interview that he will sell this shirt and donate all money to Dustin's charity. The shirt sold for $100,000 with president Dana White matching that amount.

Nurmagomedov was set to fight his long-time rival Tony Ferguson at UFC 249. They were to meet for the 5th scheduled time with both fighters boasting 12 fight win streaks in the UFC. As fate would have it, the fight was unable to happen due to Russia having restricted air travel policies set in place to stop the spread of Covid-19. Tony Ferguson chose to fight with Justin Gaethje for the interim title but postponed it to the 9th of May. Shockingly, Gathje proceeded to outstrike Ferguson for 5 rounds dealing a devastating TKO in the fifth round. In his post-fight interview, Gathje expressed his desire to fight Khabib by saying: 'Khabib is the best in the world... and I would love to represent the USA against Dagestan, Russia.'

Before the unification bout between Gaethje and Khabib took place, tragedy struck Nurmagomedov as his father passed away due to covid complications. This was the start of a spring of tumultuous events leading up to his fight. Khabib suffered from mumps 2 weeks from the fight but no one ever saw it. This was due to him covering himself at events with a mask so as not to reveal his condition. Disaster struck again as he broke his toe. In an interview with Khabib's trainer, Javier Mendez revealed that Khabib said: 'Coach my toe may be broken but my mind is not.'

None of these hurdles stopped Khabib from pushing forward in the first round of the fight, tiring Gaethje out with constant pressure. Gaethje's gameplan was clear: to take out Khabib's legs to stop the high pace he put on his opponents. This seemed to be working as Gaethje was getting in more and more leg kicks. However, Khabib's greatness was shown in the fight as he continued to pressure Gaethje, taking him down in the second round and submitting via a triangle choke.  Khabib motioned to his corner to calm down as he collapsed, letting out all of the emotions he bottled up over the death of his father. In the post-fight interview, Khabib laid down his gloves and announced his retirement, explaining there's no way he could do this without his father. He also revealed he promised his mother it would be his last fight. It was later revealed that Khabib chose to choke Gathje so he could fight soon after and not sustain any injuries.

Khabib ended his career in his prime and at the top of the world of MMA. He did all of this for the sake of honouring his mother's wishes. He is currently busy building up the EFC (Eagle Fighting Championship), studying for a masters and is content with raising his newly bought cattle. Teddy Atlas recently remarked on Khabib's greatness, stating: "Khabib has supreme confidence as Muhammed Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson had... He has the strength of character to retire as his mum asked of him." Supreme confidence is high praise from Cus D'Amato's disciple Teddy Atlas. Khabib Nurmagomedov will be remembered as the most dominant lightweight who ever lived and will be remembered as a potential GOAT in every fan's conversation.