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It would have been the perfect time to retire even if his father, Abdulmanap, had stood behind him with a reassuring arm on Khabib Nurmagomedov’s shoulder.
How could the UFC lightweight champion top what he did Saturday at the Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi when he drowned interim champion Justin Gaethje in the second round of their title fight in the main event of UFC 254?
Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov was not by his son’s side on Saturday, although judging by the way Khabib fought, he was there in spirit. Abdulmanap was one of the more than a million global victims of COVID-19, lost at age 57 and with much still to give to the world.
His son pressed on to defend the title they had won together, dominating an elite opponent and choking him unconscious in the second round despite all the weight he carried on his shoulders.
He struggled despite what his coach, Javier Méndez, called the worst training camp they had ever had. Mendez told Yahoo Sports in a telephone interview that Nurmagomedov had a case of mumps on September 11 that kept him out of training for two weeks. When he returned, he broke a toe and was limited for several days.
Several of his teammates got sick and had a staph infection. But Khabib made it look easy by beating Gaethje, being toe to toe with him for much of the first round and giving better than he received.
“This was the worst camp we’ve ever had in the preparation sense,” Mendez told Yahoo Sports. “The accommodations were the best of all; the hospitality was the best of all. But we were so unlucky. There was a Staph infection with many of the boys and the mumps. Khabib had mumps two weeks before [camp] and I was like, ‘Oh my God. I am so worried ‘. He trained one week very lightly and then the following week broke his toe next to his little finger.
“Due to the broken finger, we were out again. This was a very tough camp. But Khabib said, ‘Coach, my toe may be broken, but my mind isn’t.’ I said I know, and that’s when I knew he was going to fight all this adversity no matter what. “
He emotionally retreated into the cage after his victory, unable to hold back tears at the thought of his father, who died in Russia on July 3.
Despite taking more kicks than Mendez would have liked, Nurmagomedov was in command at all times. He got the best of the punches and when he dropped Gaethje with just 40 seconds to go in the first round, he moved quickly to mount and almost made it to the finish.
Then it came out in the second and it only took 1:34 to finish it. It ended the doubts that exist about the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. It is clearly the best there is, and possibly, perhaps, the best that has ever been.
Nurmagomedov has become one of the biggest stars in the UFC, and as the champion he was in high demand before the fight. That meant reliving the pain of the loss of his father over and over again to reporters who wanted to know how it had affected him.
UFC President Dana White has been involved in the fighting game for a long time, and with everything revolving around Khabib, he felt a surprise. When Nurmagomedov did what he did, White said there is no longer any doubt about the identity of the best.
“Wow man! He’s the baddest [expletive] on the planet, ”White said at the post-fight press conference. “Let’s get started, there’s like a sensation process for two minutes, and then it started! Those two were leaving, but the pressure Khabib puts on you is incredible. He literally did not respect [Gaethje’s] punch power and just went straight into everything.
“When he started going for the arm in the first round, I was like, ‘Oh my God! Are you going to make an arm? Then in the second round, he keeps up the pressure and starts looking for that submission. I was like, ‘Oh man,’ and he locked it up, gets it, and strangles it. Amazing.”
As an athlete, it is amazing. He is one of the most outstanding athletes in the short history of this sport.
But he’s also human with the emotions the rest of us feel in times of loss. He has so many people who trust him that he went ahead with the fight without saying a word about what was to come. Mendez said he first heard about the retirement plans when Nurmagomedov was speaking with UFC announcer Jon Anik in the cage after the fight.
After the victory, Nurmagomedov ran to the center of the cage and fell on all fours, letting out all his pent-up emotions. He cried alone until Gaethje came over, put a hand on his back, and tried to provide some level of comfort.
When he got up, he went to Anik and announced that he had finished.
“Today, I want to say that this was my last fight,” he said. “No way am I going to come here without my father. It was the first time after what happened to my father when the UFC called me about Justin. I spoke with my mother for three days. She didn’t want me to go fight without my father. I promised him, ‘It’s going to be my last fight,’ and if I give my word, I have to follow this. It was my last fight here.
“I only know one thing I want from the UFC, you have to put me in the pound-for-pound number 1 fighter in the world, because I deserve it. UFC undefeated and undisputed lightweight champion, 13-0, 13 in UFC, 29 in entire professional MMA career. “
He has made tens of millions in his career and has many business ventures so he will not be affected by money.
But Mendez said Nurmagomedov will also help him train at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California.
“He’s really concerned about preserving his father’s legacy, so one of the ways he’s going to do that is to join me as a coach,” Mendez said. “He really has been a coach for quite some time. People have no idea. But we will formalize it and he will work with me training these guys.
“He was a great student and has a great mind for this game. And you can see that he paid attention to his father. As good a fighter as he has been, that’s how good a coach he can be. “
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