Abubakar Nurmagomedov is the cousin of Khabib Nurmagomedov. (imago Images)
Abubakar Nurmagomedov tells the origin story of his very cool nickname
UFC welterweight fighter, Abubakar Nurmagomedov, is called the ‘Dagestani Gangster’. He fights out of Makhachkala in Dagestan, Russia, so that explains one part of that nickname.
But Abubakar (15-3-1), who is the cousin brother of Khabib Nurmagomedov, explained how the entire nickname came into being.
And he told RT Sport that it came up during an America vs Russia competition in freestyle wrestling in training.
“I don’t really remember everything in detail. DC was telling a story, and we sometimes have those competitions like our team against the American team on freestyle wrestling; just a pure sporting competition between us.”
Abubakar, like his brothers, is trained in Sambo and freestyle wrestling, and the 31-year-old has trained in the same camp as the former light heavyweight and heavyweight champion, Cormier.
And he added that Javier Mendez, his coach, picked up that name for him when Abubakar referred to himself as a ‘Dagestani Gangster’ in front of Daniel Cormier during one of those freestyle wrestling competitions.
“So DC was telling us how scary and bad he was, and I told him that I was a Dagestani gangster. So that’s how it started.”
Abubakar would certainly make a case for having that nickname. He won 9 out of his first 10 professional MMA fights in his home country, Russia.
He then moved to the United States to compete there and made his debut on foreign soil in August 2015.
He hasn’t looked back since and has managed to get himself a contract with the MMA promotion, the UFC. He lost his debut fight at UFC Fight Night 163, but has a chance to set the record straight against Jared Gooden this weekend.
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