Khabib Nurmagomedov stepped away from active competition in 2020 with an undefeated 29-0 record. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nurmagomedov announced his retirement as a fighter in the immediate aftermath of the UFC 254 main event, he revealed that the fight against Justin Gaethje would be it for him.
“Today, I want to say that this is my last fight,” Khabib Nurmagomedov said at the time. “Ain’t no way I’m going to come here without my father. After what happened with my father, when the UFC called me, I talked with my mother for three days. She doesn’t [allow] me to go and fight without my father, but I promise her that this is going to be my last fight.”
Khabib’s father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, succumbed to COVID-19 in July of 2020 in Moscow at age 57. In retirement, Khabib Nurmagomedov has turned to coaching at the Eagles MMA gym.
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Khabib Nurmagomedov Talks Retired Life at World Sports Summit with Rio Ferdinand
Nurmagomedov was a guest at the recent World Sports Summit. During a sit-down interview led by Rio Ferdinand, he mentioned that he seems pretty content with life after the fights.
“About retirement, when I retired, I never think to coming back,” he said. “It was [a] very clear decision. Very, very clear decision. Of course, sometime, I want to compete with high-level guys, but in my gym, I have [the] best fighters in the world. When I miss some competition, I go to the gym. I can find, not only the best guys in the division, but I can find the best pound-for-pound guys in the world.”
Even though he’s no longer in MMA, Khabib Nurmagomedov says that the competitive itch still needs to be satiated from time to time.
“I love wrestling, I love competition,” he mentioned. “But going back to the cage, no.”
Khabib Nurmagomedov on Switching From Competition to Coaching
Khabib Nurmagomedov may have put the gloves on for a fight in the Octagon one last time over five years ago, but he’s still a mainstay at flagship UFC events now, guiding his pupils cageside. At the World Sports Summit, “The Eagle” discussed the adjustments he’s made in going from one phase of his professional life to the next.
“These things, a lot of people don’t understand when I was inside and outside of the Octagon,” he said. “When I was coaching and when I was a fighter, it’s a very big difference. One thing I don’t really like, when I’m coaching, I just can only talk. I just can only give advice, you know. I cannot do [anything] with my hands, with my body, I cannot use. I can use only advice, you know.”
“This part, I don’t like honestly,” Khabib Nurmagomedov continued. “But other things, when I was by myself inside the cage, when I can do something, when I can control the fight, this one is different. That’s why, I talk about this a lot with my close people, I like to [be a] fighter more than coach.”
Toughness is Order of the Day with Khabib Nurmagomedov
As previously mentioned, Nurmagomedov retired as an undefeated champion. It’s something he accomplished due to the toughness his late father instilled in him from a young age.
“From my own experience like when I was growing up, always in my gym, I was youngest,” he said. “My father would bring me with the national team. It was the strongest team, it was the best team. I always was youngest, and I’d do everything [with] what they told me because we have rules. In our rules, if you’re young, you’re always wrong. Who’s older, you’re always right. There [are] rules and you have to follow them, and somehow, when I finished my career, I [became] oldest in my team.”
From there, Nurmagomedov knew only he could take on the role of team leader.
“I look around like ‘Who’s here? Everybody’s younger than me'”, he said. “My father, he passed away and I’m like, ‘OK, I have to take this leadership and I have to lead this team and I have to keep continuing my father’s legacy.’ When the time comes, I understand I’m ready for this. Some people, they are not ready and some people, they become busy with their life and because everything in their life is good and they don’t think to invest to other people what you have.”
“The Eagle” Sharing Wisdom with His Pupils
Later in the interview, Nurmagomedov talked about the importance of passing on what he’s learned to his team members. He’s hopeful that they can use his lessons to better their own causes.
“What God gives us, we have to share,” Khabib Nurmagomedov said. “Right now, I’m talking about knowledge, experience, and energy. Everything I have, I try to share with these guys. I want that they become the best. I want that they become the champion. I want that they become better than me, everything that I want, all the best for them.”
Final Thoughts
Simply put, Khabib Nurmagomedov is carrying on his late father’s legacy each and every day. Here’s hoping that Nurmagomedov’s team members bring home more victories in 2026.
