Khabib Nurmagomedov pulled through the UFC as a champion just because of his discipline. And that’s the one thing that the entire Dagestani camp takes pride in. After all, every single Nurmagomedov has achieved splendid success because of their discipline. However, there are shortcomings every once in a while. Sometimes, these brief breaks in discipline come from Nurmagomedov’s family. Well, that’s what happened with Abubakar Nurmagomedov. And the blame was all on Demetrious Johnson. Let me walk you down through the conversation between the former champions. 

Following one of their training sessions at UFC 311 camp, ‘The Eagle’ asked Johnson about one of his celebration moves. The ONE champion replied that it was something from the Mega Man X video game series. Needless to say, Nurmagomedov was visibly disappointed at the ‘Mighty Mouse’. He asked, “You play too much, right?” When Johnson replied in an affirmation, Nurmagomedov asked how many hours he spent on video games. This seemed to put Johnson on his guard. Reflecting on his childhood, he replied, “Now? That isn’t much. When I was a kid, all day. All day.”  

But the former undefeated UFC lightweight champion had something else in his mind. He blamed Johnson for his cousin, Abubakr Nurmagomedov’s first-ever loss in the UFC. He said, “You play with Abubakar a lot? Because of you, you take him all the time to game, he lose one fight! I remember. I remember this.” Well, Johnson and Nurmagomedov’s cousin were pretty close to each other. The 38-year-old fighter used his index fingers to show how close he was to Nurmagomedov’s cousin. But things had certainly changed. Johnson continued, “But now? Now, I haven’t seen him play in a long time.” 

‘The Eagle’ is pretty strict when it comes to having discipline in one’s life, especially if one wants to become a fighter. For that, gaming was something that the Dagestani team had to avoid. In the case of Abubakar Nurmagomedov, he lost 2 of his UFC bouts, while winning the other 2. Back in 2019, he lost to David Zawada, and in 2023, he faced defeat at the hands of Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos. And Khabib Nurmagomedov seemed to believe that it was all because of his cousin’s gaming habits. He didn’t back down from putting all the blame on Demetrious Johnson. He said, “Because we break his computer. Brother, we break his computer. I know you think we joking, but we did.”

Abubakar Nurmagomedov’s loss was indeed personal for ‘The Eagle’. After all, it was a loss that attracted snide remarks from Conor McGregor in now-deleted tweets. Nevertheless, with the computer broken, Nurmagomedov’s cousin had to focus on his fighting career. And as far as Johnson’s gaming was concerned, he wasn’t going to give up on that any time soon. But do you know which games the former ONE Championship star likes to play? Let’s find out!

Why is Mega Man so close to Demetrious Johnson?

Talking to the GeekWire back in 2022, Johnson revealed how gaming and streaming on Twitch got him closer to his fans. He could connect with the netizens on a whole other level. However, it wasn’t something that he thought of as a full-time career. Streaming on Twitch required way too much work and the payout was pretty unpredictable. But do you know what’s the former ONE champion’s absolute favorite game? Pssst… It’s the same thing that apparently got Abubakr Nurmagomedov’s computer broken. 

The ‘Mighty Mouse’ said, “My favorite game was the ‘Mega Man X’ series. That’s what actually got me into streaming on Twitch. Now I play a little bit everything — first-person shooters, RPGs RTSs.” Johnson grew up with people playing Mega Man X and Zelda: Ocarina of Time around him. No wonder, it had a significant influence on him. 

But Nurmagomedov wasn’t going to let anyone else from the Dagestani team get into gaming. Now, he has put all of his focus on training Islam Makhachev and Umar Nurmagomedov for their title fight at UFC 311. While gaming certainly has some benefits, ‘The Eagle’ surely stands against it all. What are your thoughts on Nurmagomedov’s blames on Johnson? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.