Khabib Nurmagomedov ended his career in grand fashion at UFC 254, finishing Justin Gaethje in the second round of their title fight. Khabib has thus retired with an undefeated 29-0 record in MMA, as well as with the Lightweight Championship. The retirement is untimely, but Khabib made a promise to his mother to stop fighting after the Gaethje matchup after his father passed away.
Despite knowing it was his last fight, Khabib went about the weekend like it was just business as usual. While there was an ominous air around Khabib’s interviews, it seemed normal, considering the hard year Khabib had. People were fantasy booking him against Georges St-Pierre, not planning his retirement.
But he did have some fun on Fight Island. YouTube Channel ‘NELK’ conducted a joke interview with Khabib in which the host asked Khabib for advice on how to start MMA training. He wanted to train to beat up Jorge Masvidal, who apparently slept with his girlfriend. It is a cringe-inducing sketch, but Khabib’s responses make it very enjoyable.
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“26? Too old. I think you have to buy dog. With dog? We have chance. You can try flying knee, but with dog it’ll be much better. Dog like some Pitbull.”
Khabib Nurmagomedov and his legacy in MMA
Khabib Nurmagomedov may go down as one of the most serious fighters in MMA history. But watching him have moments like this is quite heartwarming. He was clearly caught a little off-guard by the questions, but played along fantastically. He even said ‘we’ while referring to the host’s desire to fight Masvidal. His light-hearted responses to the questions were nice to see.
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However, as a fighter, Khabib does nothing that can be called light-hearted. His aggressive wrestling and submission chops have netted him 29 consecutive MMA wins. 13 of them in the UFC and 4 were in championship fights. He finished his last three opponents, which were all title defenses against the top contenders of the division.
Interviews like this are not common from Khabib, so it is nice to have a moment like this as a part of Khabib’s legacy in the sport. We’ve seen him be serious, we have seen him trash-talk, and now we have seen him try to help out a guy that lost his girlfriend to Jorge Masvidal.