The Forgotten Members of Team Khabib

UFC 330 saw yet another win for a member of Team Khabib, Islam Makhachev. The welterweight champion extended his record to 29-1 and added to the overall record of his team, which, on paper, is phenomenal.

Before Khabib came his father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, one of the greatest minds in MMA. Following his death in 2020, Khabib took the mantle of the team on his shoulders.

ESPN put out a graphic stating that Team Khabib's combined record is absolutely ridiculous.

The current combined record of Team Khabib is absolutely ridiculous 😳

One man’s vision. Father’s Plan 🙌 pic.twitter.com/BeS8bxyZsg

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma)

Whilst that is true, the graphic and names thrown around as part of 'Team Khabib' don't tell the whole picture. We take a look at those forgotten men.

The Forgotten Men of Team Khabib

Abubakar Nurmagomedov

Former PFL and UFC man Abubakar Nurmagomedov is the older cousin of Khabib Nurmagomedov and trained under Abdulmanap.

There's no doubt that Abubakar is a solid fighter, although arguably he's most known for his infamous involvement in the UFC 229 post-fight brawl with Conor McGregor.

His record when he retired in 2023 was 17-4-1. In the UFC, he lost to David Zawada and Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos. 

 

An extremely respected record; however, due to his multiple losses, he's often left out of the 'Team Khabib' talk.

Tagir Ulanbekov

Flyweight Tagir Ulanbekov is one of the more recognisable names from Team Khabib who doesn't get mentioned. 

Fighting under the Fight Nights Global banner as well as Gorilla Fighting before joining the UFC, Ulanbekov amassed a record of 11-1. After he joined the UFC, he picked up back-to-back wins in his first two outings before dropping a decision to Tim Elliott. A four-fight winning run was snapped with a loss to Kyoji Horiguchi in November of last year.

Still an active fighter, Ulanbekov has a record of 17-3 and is rarely spoken about as a member of 'Team Khabib'.

Sultan Aliev

Another forgotten man of Team Khabib is Sultan Aliev. The Russian retired from professional competition in 2019 after a win in Saint Petersburg. He was coached by both Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov and Greg Jackson and certainly failed to hit the heights of other members of Team Khabib.

He joined the UFC with a record of 13-1 but would slip and retire with a promotional record of 2-2, having been finished twice. Again, however, he is never mentioned when considering Team Khabib. He retired with a record of 15-3.

Zubaira Tukhugov

Zubaira Tukhugov debuted in 2010, but it was clear from early on that he wasn't going to be a phenom like Khabib or Islam Makhachev. He progressed to 5-1 and would join the UFC with a record of 15-3 and pick up three victories before losing to Renato Moicano in 2016.

He then received a two-year USADA suspension due to a positive test for ostarine. He largely rose to fame throughout the bitter McGregor/Khabib rivalry surrounding UFC 229 and received a suspension for his involvement in the post-fight brawl.

He returned and got a draw against Lerone Murphy before going 2-2. He missed weight for both of the fights that he lost. He was released in 2023 and was set to face Artem Lobov in 2025 under the PFL banner; however, the fight never materialised.

The Russian is all but retired with a record of 20-6-1.

The 'True' Record

If we take into account the four 'forgotten' fighters discussed, the record of Team Khabib is still incredible. They have a combined record of 69-16-2.

Adding this to the record of the more regularly mentioned members of Team Khabib, the overall record would sit at 178-18-2, still an outstanding record.