Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov have been compared a lot but there are some differences between the two Russians
Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev have been training since they were kids. The pair are still training under Javier Mendez at AKA and their coach shared the differences between the two stars.
Khabib is the more well-known star thanks to his exploits as the UFC Lightweight champion. The Russian is older when compared to Makhachev but is undefeated in his MMA career.
Khabib retiring from the UFC has opened the door for Makhachev to make a run for the Lightweight belt. While Mendez confirmed that Makhachev is the only one to have beaten Khabib in training, he was more than happy to share some other differences while speaking on his podcast:
“The difference is Islam is well-rounded, more than Khabib was.
“Khabib’s got the greatest ground game in the history all sports in my opinion. Islam, in my opinion, doesn’t have but that is pretty close. He is good on the ground, good in the stand-up.
“The difference is, Islam can fight anywhere while Khabib, I chose for him to fight ‘Father’s plan’ because he is the best at it while Islam is pretty close to that too.”
Mendez also backed Islam to become the next Lightweight champion and it will be interesting to see how he does against Drew Dober at UFC 259:
“I just expect Islam to be the next champ, that’s how good he is.”
The coach wanted his newest ‘champion’ to fight three times in the year. However, Mendez believed that if Islam fought for the title next he would win.
There is a lot of pressure on Islam to perform against Dober and Islam believes he will chart his own path after UFC 259.
Khabib too has hyped up his friend and training partner over the years. Dagestan has produced some quality fighters since Khabib broke into the UFC and Makhachev could well be the next big thing for the UFC.
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