Islam Makhachev opened up on his early days training with Khabib Nurmagomedov
Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov are extremely close as tales of their training have been shared countless times.
The Russian pair have been training since they were children and Makhachev was asked about this again. Makhachev was speaking to the press before UFC 259 where he takes on Drew Dober.
The 18-1 UFC star is being hailed as the next big thing after Khabib, and was asked about the first time he remembered training with The Eagle:
“When I was young, like school, went to school together. He [is] older than me three years and I remember them and we went to training together.”
Makhachev added that Khabib was training with his father while he was wrestling. The pair had trained for 15 years together and they still seem to be training a lot.
Khabib might be retired from the MMA circuit but he still seems to be training. He was captured having a bit of a go at Manel Kape in the AKA gym regarding the UFC star’s football knowledge too.
Makhachev was asked about Khabib and if he was still sparring. The 29-year-old confirmed that Khabib loved to train but he wasn’t in the best of shapes:
“He still competes with everybody. He did spar, wrestling, grappling, he is in good shape but his weight now big.
“But, he always training, doesn’t matter where he go in other country but he training everywhere because he loves this.”
Islam Makhachev vying to be the next champion
Khabib has a lot of hopes for his friend and training partner and he isn’t the only one. Daniel Cormier and Javier Mendez also believe that Makhachev could be a champion and it will be interesting to see how he performs against Dober.
Mendez also spoke about Makhachev being the only person to ever beat Khabib in a sparring round. However, fighting in the Octagon is different to training. Dober is a tough opponent and cannot be taken lightly.
Makhachev has one loss in his career and he would have to be a little wary to not make it two on Saturday.
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