UFC 302 saw Khabib Nurmagomedov make a return to the promotion as part of the corner team for Islam Makhachev, in his quest for a third title defense against Dustin Poirier. ‘The Eagle’ retired from MMA as a fighter in 2020 after the death of his father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov. While he subsequently transitioned to coaching with AKA (American Kickboxing Academy), he stepped away completely from MMA in 2023 to focus on spending more time with his family.

However, with his friend and protégé, Islam Makhachev poised to surpass his legacy, Nurmagomedov joined his training camp to share his expert insights, having previously faced Poirier at UFC 242 in 2019. Fans at the arena were also shocked when former President, Donald Trump, made an appearance at the event and shared a brief conversation with ‘The Eagle’ in his appearance on the ‘Impaulsive’ podcast, Trump revealed what was said in the exchange between the two.

Donald Trump reveals what Khabib Nurmagomedov said to him at UFC 302  

The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey was filled with applause as the crowd got on its feet when former President Donald Trump made his appearance at UFC 302, escorted by CEO Dana White. Making his way to his cage-side seats, Trump interacted with a lot of prominent figures in the crowd however, it was his conversation with former lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov that caught everyone’s attention!

In his appearance on the ‘Impaulsive’ podcast episode no. 418, Trump stated, “I met Khabib, who’s 29-0 and his father died and he just said, that’s it for me. And you know, his father was great at what he did and probably he never lost even a round I think, he’s 29-0, they say he never lost a round. And I thought he was great and we got to speak he was just about my favorite guy and really talented.”

The former president is correct that Nurmagomedov retired undefeated but he did lose 2 rounds in his UFC career, the first against Conor McGregor at UFC 229 in 2018, and the second in his final fight against Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in 2020.

Nevertheless, Trump further went on to reveal the conversation between the pair as he stated, “And you know, he said to me, ‘I hope you can get in because we have to stop the wars, we have to stop the killing’… He was so smart, he understood it… But he said, we have to stop the killing and it’s true…”

Other sources available online have also reported that Nurmagomedov implored the former president to stop the “Palestine war”, to which Trump responded by stating, “We’re gonna stop it. I’m gonna stop it.”

Trump has been in the news recently for being convicted of 34 charges in regards to a ‘hush money’ payment by the Manhattan Criminal Court. However, despite his polarizing status, UFC CEO Dana White has made an interesting statement about his relationship with the former president!

Dana White comes out to support Trump for being an “incredible friend”

During a recent interview with ‘Variety’, Dana White spoke about how his relationship with Donald Trump isn’t affected by the “misconceptions” surrounding the former president and business mogul. White revealed, “There’s lots of misconceptions about Donald Trump… You know, politics is very dirty. A lot of bad things are said about him, and all I can tell you is in my almost 25-year relationship with Donald Trump, he’s been an incredible friend.”

White also confessed that in the early days of the UFC, the “stigma” surrounding the promotion over its perception as ‘human cockfighting’ was so bad that many venues didn’t want to host their events. As such, Donald Trump stepped in to provide his assistance to the company and even showed up to the fights to show his support!

In conclusion, as Khabib Nurmagomedov continues to inspire through his coaching and advocacy, Trump remains a prominent, if controversial, figure in the world of the UFC. What are your thoughts on the interaction between ‘The Eagle’ and Donald Trump? Share them with us in the comments below!