Abubakar Nurmagomedov highlights what kind of coaching work Khabib is doing after UFC retirement

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4 years ago

Abubakar Nurmagomedov with Khabib Nurmagomedov in his corner. (imago Images)

Abubakar Nurmagomedov shared Khabib Nurmagomedov’s coaching work after UFC retirement

The reigning UFC lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, has officially announced his retirement from MMA earlier this month.

But that doesn’t mean that the 32-year-old will be missing out on the action. He has taken up several roles in his free time.

Apart from playing football video games, Khabib finds the time to be a mentor, a trainer, a coach, and a cornerman. He even made his ‘coaching’ debut at UFC 259 at Islam Makhachev’s corner against Drew Dober.

Khabib Nurmagomedov coaching his cousin brother, Abubakar Nurmagomedov.

And speaking to RT Sport, his cousin brother, Abubakar Nurmagomedov, has shared exactly what coaching work ‘The Eagle’ does ever since he hung up his gloves after UFC 254 in October 2020.

He shared that the Russian shares coaching time with Javier Mendez as the two divide days of the week amongst themselves.

“At the moment, Javier is always there. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, those are Javier’s days. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, that’s when Khabib holds some freestyle wrestling sessions.”

Khabib Nurmagomedov has taken up ‘coaching’ after UFC retirement

He added what exactly Khabib makes them do in those 3 days. And he made sure to mention that Mendez is still in-charge of the main stuff.

“… wall wrestling, grappling, but sparring sessions are all up to Javier. Also, Javier is in charge of conditioning, bikes. He holds pads. And after every training session, no matter if it’s Khabib or Javier, we sit together and discuss everything; who needs what, all the flaws or fortes.”

And that’s not it. The ‘Dagestani Gangster’ mentioned how ‘The Eagle’ also pushes and motivates everyone to be better when they are inside the training room.

“If you really do something well, he keeps pushing you, motivates you to do it even better. If you struggle with some things, he tells you what to do to improve in those aspects.”

Abubakar would be hoping that he can all his training into use this weekend. The Russian is all set to take on Jared Gooden at UFC 260 as he looks to win his first fight in the promotion.