Khabib Nurmagomedov is a Russian athlete who performs in mixed-style tournaments under the auspices of the UFC. Specialists and fans are recognized as one of the most spectacular fighters of our time. In his rating division, the Dagestan is second only to the epic Conor McGregor, whom he is persistently seeking to meet. The statistics of Khabib Nurmagomedov in the professional arena totals 24 matches, in all of which he won.
Characteristic
The famous Dagestan fighter performs in the light weight category. Khabib Nurmagomedov is quick, agile, well-coordinated and has excellent functional training, which allows him to conduct all his fights at a high pace and impose his rhythm on his opponents.
The main type of martial arts for Khabib is combat sambo, several times he even became the world champion. In addition, since childhood, barely learning how to walk, he began to engage in freestyle wrestling, training with his father’s students. From here - excellent wrestling skills in the stalls, which is a weak point for most sambo wrestlers.
The Russian mixed martial arts school is inferior in this respect to the western one, where the basic type for training is jujitsu. Khabib also has excellent command of both throwing techniques and painful techniques, which was learned from Sambo, and the skills of viscous, tactical confrontation after being transferred to the stalls, which was learned from the lessons of free-style wrestling.
From the above, it does not mean that the weak point of the Dagestan is the striking technique. The guy feels great in the stand, he won a third of his fights by knockouts.
Following brother
Khabib Nurmagomedov was born in the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1988. His father is the legendary freestyle wrestling coach and head of the center for training mixed-style fighters Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov. Starting from two years old, Khabib disappeared in the training room, following the students of his dad he repeated all the exercises - somersaults, transitions. The guys, along with the trainer, laughed at the kid who barely learned to walk, but what happened turned out.
Few people know that Khabib has an older brother, Magomed, who is two years older than him. According to Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, he possessed even richer potential than Khabib, was faster, more technical, more cunning. Already at the age of 16, Magomed was part of the Dagestan freestyle wrestling team. Fourteen-year-old Khabib began to besiege his father with requests to include him in the team and allow him to train on equal terms with older children.
A year later, he spent a dozen and a half training camps and ceased to resemble an awkward, angular teenager. By the age of sixteen, Khabib Nurmagomedov was already one of the best in the country in hand-to-hand combat and combat sambo. So the persistent and purposeful athlete took by nature industriousness that which he was deprived of from birth.
First contractions
In his youth, Khabib Nurmagomedov, whose weight was not a problem for him, actively played in various types of martial arts. He repeatedly won the largest competitions in combat sambo, grappling, pankration, army hand-to-hand combat.
At one point, he decided to try his hand at mixed-style fights and began to compete in various Russian promotions. The first battles of Khabib Nurmagomedov took place in Russia and Ukraine. He began by defeating the Azerbaijani fighter Vasul Bayramov, followed by a series of fifteen successful battles, mainly with local fighters.
A talented station wagon from Russia was paid attention to on the other side of the ocean. In 2012, Khabib Nurmagomedov signed a contract with UFC, the most respected and influential promotion company engaged in organizing mixed-style fights.
Among the best of the best
The first duel under the auspices of the UFC Dagestani fighter held against Kamal Shalorus. The American was a little condescending to the newcomer, but how did he know that Khabib learned to fight and conduct painful receptions before speaking. Already in the third minute of the battle, Nurmagomedov sent his opponent into a deep sleep with a strangulation from behind.
One of the key fights in the career of a Russian fighter can be considered his fight with Gleason Tiebau. Already in his second fight in the new promotion, Habib met with a strong lightweight, which threatened him with a painful defeat.
Nevertheless, the battle took place on the opposite courses, the Brazilian unsuccessfully tried to realize his advantage in the fight, but to no avail. By court decision, the victory was given to Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Following these, a native of Tsumadinsky district held three more fights before his injury in 2014, in all of which he won. Noteworthy was the confrontation with Abel Trujillo, in which the Russian set a record for the number of takedowns during one fight.
The epic with Ferguson
The fights of Khabib Nurmagomedov, thanks to the skill of the latter, are recognized by fans as extremely spectacular, and UFC bosses are increasingly bringing him to the best lightweight fighters. One of the most anticipated fights is considered the future fight of Habib with Tony Ferguson.
The first time they were to meet in 2014, but Khabib Nurmagomedov was injured and dropped out for two years. Upon returning, he expressed his consent to continue, but now Tony was already injured.
Expecting the return of a principled rival, the Dagestan had a couple of excellent fights and began to prepare for the battle scheduled for March 4, 2017. However, due to extremely hard weight loss, Habib brought his body to exhaustion and ended up in the hospital, where he underwent a course of rehabilitation procedures. All fans are looking forward to continuing the epic story.
The official weight of the athlete is 70 kilograms. However, between fights he gains up to 15 kg and often experiences problems with their dropping. Therefore, such an option is not excluded that in the near future, Habib will have to move to another weight category.