Khabib Nurmagomedov

Biography

Khabib Nurmagomedov is a Russian mixed-style fighter who has many victories in serious fights behind him. He holds the titles of champion of Russia, two-time world champion, European champion. Khabib became the first Russian to win the title of champion of the UFC mixed martial arts tournament. The athlete has 29 victories and no defeats. Today he is one of the most productive fighters in Russia and the pride of all Dagestan.

Childhood and youth

Nurmagomedov was born in the Dagestan village of Sildi on September 20, 1988. By nationality, he is a native Avar. Many of Habib's relatives, including his father, who became his son's coach, are professionally engaged in wrestling.

Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, Khabib's father, became the champion of Ukraine in the distant 90s, and his uncle Nurmagomed Nurmagomedov at one time received the title of world champion in sports sambo. The street where the future UFC champion's home stood was named after him. On the maternal side, there are also relatives who have the titles of masters of sports in wrestling.

Khabib Nurmagomedov as a child with his cousin

The boy started training at the age of 5. Together with him, his younger brother Abubakar, who later also became a professional athlete, was constantly present at training.

When Khabib turned 12, the family moved to Makhachkala, where his father continued classes with young people, organizing a sports camp for talented teenagers. The coach of the young man during this period was Magomedov Saidakhmed, who was engaged in freestyle wrestling with the boys. In a few years, the future champion learned the techniques of judo, combat sambo and other types of martial arts, twice won the world championship in combat sambo and once in grappling.

Later, Abdulmanap described the childhood of his sons in the book "Father", published in collaboration with Igor Rybakov. This is a kind of manual on how to raise champions in sports, life and business.

Personal life

Little is known about Khabib Nurmagomedov's personal life. A true Muslim hides information about his family and wife. It is only known that the fighter is married. Even on Instagram, the bride's face is not visible in the joint photos from the wedding, it is hidden under a thick wedding burqa.

Khabib Nurmagomedov and his father Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov

Nurmagomedov's family has three children. Shortly after the start of their life together, the couple had a daughter. In 2017, his wife gave the fighter a son. Khabib's father was engaged in the boy's training. The athlete went to the competition without his wife. In September 2019, it became known that the champion's wife was expecting her third child, and in December, the birth of a son was announced.

Khabib Nurmagomedov is reverent about faith. The young fighter observes the customs of his religion: he does not drink alcohol, does not smoke, does not visit entertainment establishments. Together with his brother, he visited Mecca, the main city for Muslims.

In the octagon, the fighter usually went out to the song "My Dagestan", written by his countryman Sabina Saidova.

Wedding of Khabib Nurmagomedov and his wife Patimat

As for income, the UFC usually does not disclose full information about the earnings of its fighters. Each fight is paid separately, and Khabib's fees, as a successful athlete, are growing exponentially. In addition, he receives money from the sale of the rights to broadcast fights and has signed several successful advertising contracts, for example, he became the face of Reebok and starred in an advertisement for a new Toyota car. According to preliminary estimates, Nurmagomedov's fortune is estimated at $50-100 million.

The Russian fighter belongs to the number of athletes who have never been caught doping. In one season, he took the test 11 times, and all the results were negative.

Khabib considers Fedor Emelianenko, who won 35 victories in the UFC, to be his idol. According to the athlete, it was he who paved the way for the rest of the Russian fighters, and Nurmagomedov takes first place in the personal rating. In turn, Fedor praises his follower and notes that he successfully uses his strengths, but advises him to work more on the striking technique of his legs and hands.

Sport

At the age of 20, a young athlete enters the big ring for the first time. During 3 years of competition, Khabib received 15 winner's awards, becoming the champion of Russia, Europe and the world in a short time. He worked under contract with the sports companies ProFC, UFC and M1 in the light weight category (Khabib's weight is 70 kg with a height of 178 cm).

The American UFC organization invites a talented Avar to join its ranks. Such a turn of events in the biography of Khabib Nurmagomedov brought him to the world level of fame. For the first time in the history of the UFC, the youngest fighter of the club enters the ring: Khabib was 23 years old at the time of his debut in UFC competitions.

One by one, the best wrestlers of our time fall at his feet: Brazilians Gleison Tibau, Tiago Tavares, American Pat Healy. Khabib Nurmagomedov's rating in the UFC list is starting to grow rapidly, and now he is already ranked 4th among all athletes of the organization.

Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor met

In the fall of 2016, Khabib and one of the strongest fighters of the club, Michael Johnson, fought. During the fight, the Russian applied a painful technique that led him to victory. After the fight, Nurmagomedov and UFC leader Conor McGregor met, whom the Dagestani began to provoke. A fight almost broke out between the fighters: Khabib was eager for a fight with the Irishman.

MMA fighter Nurmagomedov became the first Russian to win the title of champion of the UFC mixed martial arts tournament. This happened after his victory over American Al Yaquintu in April 2018.

On October 7, 2018, the meeting of the year between Conor and Khabib took place, which ended with the victory of the Russian after a suffocating reception in the 4th round. The fight became the highest-grossing in the history of MMA at that time. According to experts, Nurmagomedov's fee was from $ 1 million and above. Immediately after the fight, Nurmagomedov climbed over the fences and attacked the Irishman's coach, which provoked a massive fight between the parties.

As a result, Khabib defended the title of champion, but they refused to solemnly hand him the belt, citing the obscene behavior of the Russian. Conor suffered the fourth defeat in his professional career. The victory over the Irishman moved Khabib to 2nd place from 8th in the ranking of the best UFC fighters.

In January 2019, it became known that the Dagestan champion was disqualified for a period of 9 months by the Nevada Athletic Commission (NSAC). The athlete was also fined $ 500 thousand . The reason for the sanctions was a scandalous fight with McGregor, at which Nurmagomedov violated a number of rules. Such a punishment did not affect his career: Khabib continued training and preparing for the next entry into the ring.

Later, McGregor declared his desire for a rematch, but Nurmagomedov's manager said that the Irishman did not deserve a second chance and "they can only fight again on the street." According to Khabib, he was offended by McGregor's statements about his family and religion, he no longer wants to meet him in the octagon. To make out that Conor is a weak fighter, Nurmagomedov posted a collage of photos from the fights lost by the Irishman on his Twitter.

"He begged me not to kill him, what kind of revenge can we talk about?" the Russian stressed in an interview.

Khabib Nurmagomedov: My dream is to improve my health and go up against Tony Ferguson

In September 2019, the long-awaited fight of the champion took place. In Abu Dhabi, American Dustin Poirier came out against the Russian. The fight lasted until the 3rd round, in which the Avarian won thanks to a choke hold. The Russian 's fee amounted to an unprecedented $ 6 million . In addition to this amount, Nurmagomedov was paid $ 40 thousand for the promo of the fight and $ 50 thousand for the best performance of the evening. His opponent 's fee was $ 290 thousand . Later, the fighters were paid a monetary reward from paid broadcasts.

Respectful relations were established between the rivals. After the fight, Khabib put on Justin's T-shirt to then put it up for auction and transfer all the money to the Good Fight Foundation charity fund, which is supervised by Poirier. The fight made Khabib Nurmagomedov the most popular blogger on the Runet. By the number of subscribers, the athlete was ahead of Olga Buzova.

Khabib Nurmagomedov and Dustin Porye after the fight

In the summer of 2019, a conflict broke out between Khabib and American Nate Diaz. At the tournament in Las Vegas, Nate allowed himself harsh remarks about the Russian and his team, after which Nurmagomedov offered to resolve the conflict with his fists, but the guards managed to stop the fighters. This is not his first personal quarrel with Nate: during the WSOF 22 tournament, the American threw a bottle at Khabib, and it almost ended in a mass brawl.

Khabib Nurmagomedov now

In February 2020, the athlete topped the rating of mixed-style fighters according to the statistics of the Sherdog portal and was recognized as the best in the UFC without taking into account the weight category.

Among the news from Nurmagomedov is the repeated refusal to fight with McGregor even for a fee of $ 100 million, which was offered to him by businessmen from Saudi Arabia. The athlete offered to give this money to charities and said that he was not interested in the Irishman as a rival.

In July 2020, grief happened in the athlete's family - his father Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov died. Death occurred due to complications after the coronavirus. It was a real blow for the athlete.

On October 24, 2020, Khabib defeated Justin Geiji, unable to hold back tears after the end of the fight — the first fight without a father. Nurmagomedov defended his title for the third time. After the fight, the legendary fighter announced his retirement. The athlete's mother did not want him to continue fighting without the patronage of his father, his permanent coach. As a result, Nurmagomedov promised his mother that the fight with Geiji would be the last.

Today, the Russian athlete is one of the most productive fighters of the UFC, who has 29 victories, including by knockout. He has not suffered a single defeat in his career, which is a record.

Dana White, the president and co-owner of the UFC, met with Khabib several times, trying to convince him to return to the octagon. In March 2021, he announced that Nurmagomedov had officially ended his career.

Awards

The current UFC Lightweight champion

Champion of Russia in combat sambo

European Champion in army hand - to - hand combat

Pankration European Champion

2009 - world champion in combat sambo

2009 - World Cup among sports clubs in combat sambo

2013 - "Breakthrough of the Year"

2013 - "Breakthrough of the Year"

2014 – "Fighter to watch"

2016 – "Beating of the Year"

2016 - "Return of the Year"

2016 – "International Fighter of the Year"

2020 – "Best UFC Fighter" according to Sherdog

Interesting facts

At home, Nurmagomedov became the founder of a kind of fashion. In one of the first fights, he broke his auricle, and the mutilated ear became a kind of symbol of invincibility among young Dagestanis. Some fans of mixed martial arts specifically break their ear cartilages to be like an idol. There was even a special service for "neat" damage, and the left ear is more expensive than the right one, since it is better visible when driving a car.

Patimat Habib met his future wife as a child, they went to school together. At the age of 23, the young people got married. A photo from the wedding, where the bride's face is covered with a veil, was maliciously criticized by Nurmagomedov's rival Conor McGregor, but later he deleted the offensive post from the Internet. Fans still don't know what the wife of the Russian athlete looks like.

Nurmagomedov does not like modern Russian rap artists, in particular Egor Creed. When the musician's concert in Dagestan had to be canceled, Khabib commented on Instagram that he did not consider it a big loss. Fans of the fighter so actively supported him that it came to threats against Creed, and he had to hire security. Later, Nurmagomedov explained that he did not want to act as a censor and bring the situation to a conflict, but simply expressed his opinion.

When Khabib was 9 years old, his father, as an educational measure, offered him to fight with a bear cub that was larger than the future champion. The boy did not refuse and stood in a fight with the beast for 15 minutes. Fortunately, neither the child nor the animal were injured. Later, scenes of Nurmagomedov's battle with an already noticeably grown bear appeared on the Network more than once, which deeply angered animal defenders. They even demanded that the UFC expel him from its ranks for abuse.