Javier Mendez – head coach of American Kickboxing Academy – believes that Khabib Nurmagomedov, while an exceptional fighter, could use some refinement in his role as a cornerman.
Nurmagomedov returned to cornering his teammates recently, assisting lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in his successful title defense against Dustin Poirier at UFC 302.
And, well, Mendez observed that Nurmagomedov’s passion for his fighters…
Can often be, in a way, “too much”:
He needs to master the corner.
We still need to work the corner because he goes a little crazy on there, up and down, slamming on the table.I said: “Calm down, calm down.”
He gets really amped up.I mean, he loves his fighters so much, his brothers that you know, everything goes into that fight when he goes – I forgot what it was like to have him in the corner.
It’s kind of crazy.
To help Nurmagomedov improve as a cornerman, Mendez provided some practical advice:
“Hey, it’s OK to do what you need to do, but just sit down, yell as loud as you can to get your fighters’ attention, you don’t have to hit the table, stand up and cause the commission to keep telling us to sit down.”
So I said: “Scream louder, scream as loud as you can.”
He goes: “Coach, how am I going to reach him?”
I go: “Scream, scream as loud as you can.”You’ve got to be able to say things within reason because you’ve got to listen the crowd.
The crowd’s screaming, there’s nothing you can say. The fighter ain’t going to hear nothing.
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