Khabib Nurmagomedov, the former unbeaten lightweight champion and recent UFC Hall of Fame inductee, retired in 2019 with a flawless 29-0 record.
His last fight was a lightweight title unification bout against interim champion Justin Gaethje, where Khabib secured a second-round Triangle Choke to win – and then announced his retirement immediately after.
Since stepping away, Khabib has remained close to the sport, coaching his protégé Makhachev to capture the lightweight title.
And, while Makhachev and Ilia Topuria have recently engaged in debates around their fighting ability outside the cage, a story resurfaced of Nurmagomedov’s own street fighting past…
Particularly a notable encounter where he faced two brothers consecutively.
He shared what happened:
One time my cousin fight in the street, he lose and I go fight.
I said: “Now, you need to fight with me.”I was 14 or 15.
I fight with him, and I beat this guy.His brother now fight with me. But this guy thought I was tired
I fought maybe four or five minutes with him and finish him with a choke.He (The brother) comes, I finish him too.
I choke him.
Although fans and fighters alike have urged Khabib to consider returning to the Octagon, the Dagestani star has firmly declined any possibility of a comeback:
If you guys need champions, I’m helping my brothers to become champions.
We have Islam (Makhachev), champion. We have Umar (Nurmagomedov), next contender. We have Usman (Nurmagomedov) champion.We have a lot of champions.
You guys never going to miss me because in our team, in our gym, we create champions.You guys going to [always have] champion [from the camp], don’t worry about this.
Sloth Jiu-Jitsu: you can be slow and unathletic and still kick butt in Jiu-Jitsu.
