LAS VEGAS — It’s Jan. 1, and Khabib Nurmagomedov is spending the start of this new year the same way he has spent most of his life. He’s covered in sweat, seated on a wrestling mat. Today, that mat is in the UFC Performance Institute, half a world away from his home and family in Dagestan. He has been here for three weeks now — which for him is three weeks too long.
“I don’t like this, to be honest,” says Nurmagomedov, who prefers the simplicity and privacy of his home to the lights of Las Vegas. “Why anyone like this?”
It’s the end of a two-hour practice, and the reason Nurmagomedov is here is surrounding him on the mat: a group of 20 fighters. Islam Makhachev, UFC champion. Umar Nurmagomedov, UFC title challenger. There are several fighters with undefeated MMA records in this room, along with a Muay Thai world champion and a silver medalist Olympic wrestler.
They make up, arguably, the greatest team in the history of combat sports, and right now, all of their attention is focused squarely on Nurmagomedov.
“It’s not my job to say you are perfect,” he says, after going through a list of improvements for them to make. “I’m here to make you better.”
It’s tradition with this team for the coach to address the athletes after each practice. For more than 30 years, that responsibility was held by Nurmagomedov’s father, Abdulmanap. He was the team’s founder and lifeblood. The one who first assembled the core of this group when they were children in Sildi, a small mountain village in Dagestan, and turned them into the MMA powerhouse they are today.
Abdulmanap’s legacy will be on full display at UFC 311 this weekend in Inglewood, California (ESPN+ PPV, Saturday at 10 p.m. ET). Makhachev (26-1) will defend his lightweight title against Arman Tsarukyan in the main event at Intuit Dome. Umar (18-0), who is Nurmagomedov’s cousin, will challenge bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili in the co-main event. A third team member, flyweight Tagir Ulanbekov (15-2), could achieve a top-10 ranking with a win in the prelims.
The historic night will take place without Abdulmanap. The legendary coach died at 57 in 2020, due to complications of COVID-19. Khabib retired from active competition shortly after, and immediately inherited his father’s role as coach. Truthfully, he’s ready for a different chapter of his life. He has served — and continues to serve — his father’s team out of a sense of responsibility, not desire.
And the responsibility is a heavy one. Coaching at a championship level always is, of course, but it runs deeper than that for Nurmagomedov. He is the only one who can carry his father’s plan to completion — and that alone is what makes it so difficult. He has to be his father, because his father isn’t here. And how does someone become the one person in their life they miss most?
“When Khabib’s father passed, he wanted nothing to do with MMA — that piece of his heart almost died,” Ali Abdelaziz, Nurmagomedov’s longtime manager and friend, told ESPN. “And now, it’s like reminding him of his father everywhere he goes, every gym, every workout. He has to become his father, right? And he doesn’t want this, because he would prefer his father was still here — and he could stand behind him.”
ABDULMANAP NURMAGOMEDOV WAS born to coach.
He grew up in a rural Dagestani village in the 1960s and devoted himself to his studies and freestyle wrestling. At 18, he went into the Russian military, where he learned sambo, a form of hand-to-hand combat, and judo. His coaches and mentors were, in Khabib’s words, “old school.” There was a serious intensity applied to Abdulmanap’s training and learning, and he eventually passed that on to his students.
“He was very disciplined,” Nurmagomedov told ESPN. “He came back to our village and began training the youth in 1985, and kept training until his last days. And some people, they learn things but there is no discipline. There is no energy. There is no knowledge. He was very educated, and he used to tell all of us that we had to be educated. So many things came together [for him as a coach].”
Abdulmanap’s grappling style is now recognized worldwide, thanks to his son. His father’s style allowed Nurmagomedov to go 29-0, and created viral moments such as him talking to Dana White cageside during a fight in New York, as he easily controlled and pummeled his opponent. Nurmagomedov’s technique dominated Conor McGregor in a submission win in 2018, one of the most-watched fights in UFC history.
That renowned style combined with Abdulmanap’s belief in discipline has made his stable of fighters virtually unbeatable. The core group of Khabib, Makhachev, Umar Nurmagomedov and his younger brother, Bellator MMA lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov, have a combined record of 91-1.
“I can describe this in one word: sacrifice,” Nurmagomedov said of his team’s unrivaled success. “People talk about discipline, but sometimes discipline is not enough. If you want to become the best, there is no family. If you want to spend time with your family and kids, be with them. You’re going to become the best family man, and I am not against family people.
I just say, ‘If you want to become the best in this business, you have to sacrifice. Sacrifice your time, sacrifice your health, sacrifice everything you have.’
Nurmagomedov’s sacrifice as a fighter ended in 2020, after he defended his UFC lightweight championship for the third time. He was on top of the MMA world at the time, widely considered the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, but said he could not continue to compete without his father.
He took over Abdulmanap’s role as coach, and guided his lifelong teammate Makhachev to the UFC’s 155-pound championship with a win over Charles Oliveira in October 2022. After that fight, Nurmagomedov tried to walk away. He stopped cornering his fighters and publicly said he had no intention of ever doing so again. The fight world felt his departure, but the team felt it more. Abdulmanap was a memory, and now, so was his son.
“When he said he wasn’t going to corner the guys, I felt sad because we need him, you know?” American Kickboxing Academy head coach Javier Mendez said. Mendez also assists in coaching the fighters who train with Nurmagomedov. “We need his presence. He’s meant to lead these guys. And they missed him. His presence is huge for their morale.”
An entire year went by, and Nurmagomedov continued to keep a distance from the sport. In October 2023, after Makhachev defended his title against Alexander Volkanovski without Nurmagomedov in his corner, Nurmagomedov wrote on Instagram, “If you guys ask me where have I been? Why I wasn’t in the corner, I already answered this question. … I completely left everything related to MMA. I ask you to accept my decision.”
The team continued to do well, even without Nurmagomedov’s presence. Makhachev defended his belt twice. Umar continued to stack wins and climb the UFC’s 135-pound ranks. Usman (18-0) won his title in Bellator MMA in dominant fashion. But, of course, it wasn’t the same. The group had literally grown up together in the gym. They were used to being in the gym training with Nurmagomedov. It wasn’t the same without him.
And as time went on, Nurmagomedov couldn’t hide from that reality. He tried to give input from a distance but came to realize it was impossible. Championship fights come down to the fine details, and those details are won or lost in the training room, not inside the Octagon. After that realization, Nurmagomedov returned to the team ahead of Makhachev’s last title defense against Dustin Poirier at UFC 302. Nurmagomedov was in Makhachev’s corner for that fight. The team’s goal is perfection, and perfection requires sacrifice.
“Sometimes, what you think is going to be the best ends up wrong,” Nurmagomedov said. “It was more stressful to be away. I want to be with my kids, but I have to share my knowledge with my brothers, because when I was on my way to becoming champion, they were with me, you know? I have to be here.”
MAKHACHEV, WHO HAS followed in Nurmagomedov’s footsteps as not only the UFC’s lightweight champion but the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, has trained within Abdulmanap’s system his entire life. And that system remains very much intact in 2025 — although, there are times he will notice slight variations under its new leadership.
For instance, since Makhachev was young, he has endured grappling practices in which he is forced to endure multiple high-intensity, five-minute rounds, broken up by only one-minute rests. Under Nurmagomedov, he has found himself, at times, grappling a round that is three times as long.
“I stopped him and was like, ‘Hey, man, I training with you all my life, I don’t remember when we grappled for 15 minutes nonstop,'” Makhachev recalled with a laugh. “‘We have rules. One and a half hours of training and it’s finished. You have to follow the rules.’ And [Coach Mendez] won’t stop him. He says, ‘This guy loves you and wants you to be in the cage 100 percent.’ And I understand and just listen to him.”
Other than perhaps that uptick in intensity, Nurmagomedov’s coaching style is nearly identical to his father’s, according to the team. It is impossible to explain away any tardiness to practice or any lack in energy level during it. There are stories of young fighters lining up outside of Abdulmanap’s office going back decades, seeking advice not just on fighting but on all areas of life. Today, they line up seeking advice from his son.
Nurmagomedov has made it clear that the lives and careers of his fighters are up to them, but he still has that stoic honesty he had as a fighter. He has told Makhachev, for instance, he should retire within two years, so as not to fight past his prime. He told his cousin, Umar, he shouldn’t compete during the Muslim fasting period of Ramadan, when Umar was considering it due to the never-ending pressures of the UFC schedule.
Every member of the team knows how fortunate they are to have him by their side. They also all recognize the life he continues to put on hold for their benefit. Makhachev knows his brother in arms would prefer to be at home, spending precious time with his family — and not in Las Vegas, “training” for UFC 311 (Nurmagomedov has been burning calories on the treadmill in anticipation of the physical demands of cornering three fights).
Once the core group of Makhachev, Umar, Usman and other longtime team members are finished, Nurmagomedov says that he, too, will finally be finished. He very much looks forward to that day, but for the time being, he will finish the job his father started all those years ago. He will sacrifice.
“When these guys finish, I’m going to finish,” he said. “I hope it’s going to be very fast, because I’m tired of all this. We have been on top of this game, like, seven or eight years. We almost never lose. We have fought everyone around the world. Japan, Middle East, Europe, U.S., South America — we fight and almost never lose. We have so many belts, so many champions.
“It’s all about sacrifice. And all of these guys, they were with my father from the beginning. Yeah, when they finish, I’m going to finish, too.”
