As Islam Makhachev enters the final hours before his battle in the Octagon with 32-year-old American MMA fighter Drew Dober, he will look to his childhood friend Khabib Nurmagomedov, who most consider the greatest fighter in the world, for guidance, as he has for the entire lead up to his latest fight.
Khabib has acted, for all intents and purposes, as the coach of the 29-year-old Makhachev, with whom he grew up in the Republic of Dagestan in Russia. The renowned fighter, who retired in sensational fashion only last fall, has yet to fully transition into the next phase in his career, he told Esquire Middle East in an exclusive interview, his first since stepping away from fighting.
“Now that I’m not going to train any more, I have people close to me—brothers and friends—who are now fighting at the highest level,” he says. “There are about five or six people who we are building the path with, and I will help them, train with them, share my experiences,” Khabib told Esquire Middle East.
When asked if he plans on going into coaching the next generation of fighters he stopped short of that accepting the title of coach.
“To some extent, this can be called a coaching life, but I am not going to fully enter into coaching. I will always be there and share my experience.”
Khabib has never been comfortable with the term coach, even for his late father, who passed away from COVID-19 in 2020, and was integral in his success.
“I would not want people to associate him as a coach, as a person who developed wrestling or something else. My father had a lot of projects and the biggest thing he did was he brought up people, brought up a personality and he always told me: “The biggest and best investment is investing in people”,” Khabib said.
“There were a lot of relatives close, whom my father both supported and raised. There were many orphans who he watched over and cared for. So in this direction he left a very large legacy. A lot of people depended on him. Of course, it all depends on the Almighty, but he was the reason for this. So, I thought that he left a huge legacy and over time people will understand it even more.”
Khabib as a fighter felt he had hit his limit, so while he will continue to train with his inner circle, he has ratcheted down his training from what it once was.
“Every day I woke up in the morning and started training, and in the evening my body was exhausted, because I had brought it to the limit. I just want to live a life in which I can get at least a little sleep before lunchtime, to live for myself and not devote myself 100 percent to sports,” said Khabib.
Khabib, however, refused to say whether he would return to fighting.
“I think only time will answer this question. We will see,” he says.
Whether Khabib’s old friend Islam will win his fight at UFC 259, time will answer a bit more quickly.
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