It seems that Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov have much more in common than one might’ve thought in the first place…
That is – neither of their mothers like to watch their sons fight.

Nurmagomedov had famously retired from mixed martial arts (MMA) after defending the UFC lightweight title for the third time, with his mom being an important motivator behind the decision:

I talked with my mother for three days [about this].
She didn’t want me to fight without father, but I promised her it was going to be my last fight.

And if I give my word, I have to follow this. It was my last fight here.

And, well, Makhachev’s mom is not much different.
In a recent interview for UFC Russia, Islam shared that she asked him to retire – to follow Khabib’s footsteps:

My mother doesn’t watch fights. Not just my fights, fights in general. She doesn’t like seeing people hit each other.

When I came home [after winning the title], there were a lot of people there. She said: “You’re champion now. Wrap it up. Khabib listened to his mother, when will you listen to yours?”

So what was Makhachev’s response? It was that he needs to defend his title:

I told her Khabib defended his title and I need to do the same.

It’s a hard topic for my mother. My father’s the opposite. He watches all the fights.

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