The Middle East loves Khabib Nurmagomedov! As the UFC recently touched down in the United Arab Emirates with UFC 308, ‘The Eagle’ also seemed to be in town and met up with UAE’s founder Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan‘s son and the country’s National Security Adviser, Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The duo even trained together, sharing a few words regarding the experience on social media thereafter.

Khabib Nurmagomedov has often been seen with his Dagestani camp training in the UAE. When Islam Makhachev recently took on the formidable Dustin Poirier at UFC 302, he had ‘The Eagle’ training with him in Abu Dhabi. The mentor-protégé duo have tasted success as fighters whenever they’ve competed in this country, and hence, the UAE has somewhat become another home away from home for Nurmagomedov.

Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan has been a UFC fan ever since UFC 1, the inaugural event, and he’s made his fair share of contributions as a BJJ practitioner. Yes, folks! Western fans may not have much of a clue, but Sheikh Tahnoun is a bona fide legend in the Middle East and a patron of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. His level of influence on this martial arts form in the UAE has been on a Gracie family level. So, why not throw down on the mat against Khabib Nurmagomedov?

“We enjoyed training with former UFC MMA Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov during his visit to the Abu Dhabi Challenge Week,” Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan stated on Instagram.

Well, the feeling seemed mutual as Khabib Nurmagomedov didn’t take much time going to social media and showing gratitude towards Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, referring to him as “brother.” He wrote, “It was big honor to share mats with his highness in Abu Dhabi. Thank you so much for invitation Brother,” on Instagram. Interestingly, this wasn’t the first time that these two personalities met up. It was actually back in 2020 and it made his manager very happy.

Recalling Khabib Nurmagomedov’s first meeting with Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan

In 2020, as the pandemic hit, UFC shifted its operations to Abu Dhabi to keep the ball rolling. As we know, Khabib Nurmagomedov bid farewell to MMA in his prime after his third title defense success against ‘The Highlight’ Justin Gaethje that year. Just days before that fight, ‘The Eagle”s first meeting with Sheikh Tahnoon went down. His manager, Ali Abdelaziz, later claimed that the meeting was something he had on his bucket list.

“Finally the meeting happened… It was my dream to see Khabib meet His Highness Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the spiritual father of mixed martial arts and ground fighting in the Arab world and one of the contributors to the development of these sports not only in his country but in the world,” Ali Abdelaziz would share on X.

Given that both Khabib Nurmagomedov and Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan are connected via martial arts, it won’t be a surprise to see them train together again in the future.