‘It Was Great Job Brother’- Khabib Nurmagomedov Lauds Islam Makhachev After His First UFC Main Event Win

Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has taken up more of a background role since his retirement from the octagon last year.

He last featured in a match against Justin Gaethje at UFC 254, where he defeated him and retired as the undisputed champion. He has opened his own MMA promotion Eagle FC and has tried his hands in various other ventures.

However, the retirement hasn’t let his love for MMA dwindle a bit. The Dagestani mauler is always in and around the MMA world, either through the interviews he gives or training his brother and pals for their fights.

In this year, he has accompanied his pals to the ring and also helped them to win their matches, respectively. Just like his own MMA record, his coaching record this year is also impeccable.

In the 4 matches he has coached, twice he was in the corner for Islam Makhachev (the last one this Saturday against Thiago Moises), once for Umar Nurmagomedov and once for Abubakar Nurmagomedov. He also takes pride whenever they win.

During Makhachev’s match against Moises, he was seen cheering and instructing for the fellow Russian throughout the match. He got pumped up after his win.

In an Instagram post, he praised Makhachev and wrote, “It was great job brother @islam_makhachev. Alhamdulillah let’s move on. One more fight this year, and it will be just a space atmosphere.”

He added, “missing many in this pic, the whole team did a phenomenal job and of course to @islam_makhachev himself who did all the instructions both inside and outside the cage during the prep.”

Even during Islam’s post-fight interview after the win, Khabib was behind him and cheered for him.

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Khabib Nurmagomedov considers himself one of the GOAT’s

Recently, in an interview, ‘The Eagle’ talked about his status amongst the greatest fighters to represent MMA. Khabib, who holds a professional record of 29 wins and no losses, said, “I don’t want to push my name (or say), ‘call me the greatest of all time’.

“No. I am one of the greatest of all time. I am on one level with Fedor, Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, Daniel Cormier, Demetrious Johnson, Georges St-Pierre… I put my name on one level,” he added.

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The greatest of all-time fighters is up for debate, but there won’t be a fixed conclusion about it. But unlike the names mentioned by Khabib, the latter has an advantage, he would think as he remained undefeated in his career.