Khabib names the toughest fight of his career

Khabib reveals which fight pushed him closest to his limit.

Former undefeated lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov spoke in an interview about which fight pushed him to his limits the most due to the events surrounding his team and his opponent at the time. He himself describes it as the toughest fight of his life, especially because of what happened leading up to it.

His father died of COVID-19 before the fight, and Khabib Nurmagomedov explained that after that loss, it was incredibly difficult to continue fighting without his father’s support.

"It was hard to pull myself together. Everything piled up at once; my father was gone. Training without my father, without the person I was doing this for, the person I wanted to become champion for, to prove to him that I could become the best"

he said.

The fight he’s talking about was against Justin Gaethje. It ended with Khabib Nurmagomedov forcing his opponent to tap out with a triangle choke in the second round, after which he announced his retirement.

But the fight wasn’t just difficult because of the unfortunate incident leading up to it. He himself said that it wasn’t necessarily easy in the ring either, but that he ultimately managed to break his opponent.

Recently, the two faced off again. This time, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s cousin Usman Nurmagomedov defended his lightweight title against the undefeated challenger Archie Colgan. He had frequently trained with Justin Gaethje leading up to the fight, which is why Justin Gaethje was there in person.

Meanwhile, Khabib Nurmagomedov is trying to step into his father’s shoes a bit. He organizes training camps and has gotten into coaching. He’s become a bit like the person he’s always looked up to, and that’s a beautiful story.