Khabib Nurmagomedov and and his father Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov give a press conference in Moscow on November 26, 2018. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP) (Photo credit should read KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)
Khabib Nurmagomedov is extremely close to his parents with his father, Abdulmanap, often accompanying him to UFC events
UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov had to deal with a heavy loss as his father, Abdulmanap, passed away on Friday.
Abdulmanap had earlier trained Khabib and several other stars from the Dagestan region. The elder Nurmagomedov also trained several other teams in the European country but had been in poor health recently.
In May 2020, Khabib’s father was placed in a medically induced coma following heart surgery. Reports highlighted that the elder Nurmagomedov also contracted the coronavirus after heart surgery and sadly passed away on 3 July.
Many UFC stars and staff posted their condolences to the Nurmagomedov family. Khabib always claimed that his family was extremely close to him, and an old clipping just highlighted this message.
It was shared by Fatih Seferagic, who also shared his condolences to Khabib:
“Respect your parents. Be your parents very close. This is very important, parents everything you know. Your mother, your father and that’s it. Everything in your life is gonna be good.
“Listen to your parents, be very close with them and that’s it.”
Khabib also said that other things would fall into place as long as children would respect their parents and learn from them.
The loss of a parent is extremely difficult to get over and we offer our condolences to the Nurmagomedov family too.
Khabib was expected to face Justin Gaethje soon with the Lightweight title on the line. The Russian is undefeated in his MMA career but his father has been a guiding light for him too.
Khabib has battled many odds to get where he is, and there is no doubt he will come back stronger than ever to take on Gaethje.
Gaethje beat Tony Ferguson to win the interim title. The fight between Gaethje and Khabib could be one of the best of the year, and it will be interesting to see when it does take place.
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