Khabib Nurmagomedov

• 1. Introduction

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  Khabib Nurmagomedov walked away from professional fighting with 29 wins and not a single defeat. He did it as one of the most feared lightweights the Ultimate Fighting Championship has ever put in a cage. His path began in the mountains of Dagestan, in southern Russia. As a boy of nine, he was made to wrestle a bear. That detail sounds like folklore, yet it sits in the record of his childhood training. What kind of upbringing produces a fighter nobody could solve? Why did a bout with one rival get scheduled again and again without ever happening? And why would a champion at the very top leave a title behind and keep a promise to his mother, even as his name drew as much controversy as applause?

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• 2. Roots In Dagestan

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  Khabib was born on the 20th of September 1988 in the village of Sildi, in the Tsumadinsky District of Dagestan. At the time, Dagestan was an autonomous republic inside the Soviet Union. He was born into an Avar family, with an older brother named Magomed and a younger sister named Amina.

  His father's side of the family had moved from Sildi to Kirovaul. There, his father turned the ground floor of a two-story building into a gym. Khabib grew up alongside siblings and cousins, and his interest in martial arts began by watching the students train downstairs.

  The father was Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, a decorated athlete and a veteran of the Soviet Army. Abdulmanap had wrestled from a young age, then trained in judo and sambo during his military service. He spent his life coaching Dagestani youth, hoping to give them an alternative to the Islamic extremism common in the region. Khabib started wrestling under him at the age of eight.

  In 2001 the family moved to Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan. Khabib kept wrestling there from the age of 12 and added judo at 15. Switching from wrestling to judo was hard, he later said, but his father wanted him comfortable competing in a gi jacket. At 17 he returned to combat sambo, again under his father, who served as a senior coach for the Dagestan national team in that sport.

  In his youth he also got into street fights, before turning his full attention to mixed martial arts. His heroes came from far outside the cage. Besides his father, he named the boxers Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson and the Brazilian footballer Ronaldo Nazario. Among MMA fighters he admired Fedor Emelianenko, Mauricio Rua and Georges St-Pierre. He also cites the Naqshbandi Sufi sheikh Imam Shamil as an inspiration.

  The grounding in sambo paid off quickly. In 2009 he won the Russian combat sambo championship at 74 kilograms, and the same year he took the world title at that weight. In 2010 he won a second world title, this time at 82 kilograms.

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• 3. Proving Ground

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  September 2008 brought his professional MMA debut, and he won four times in under a month. On the 11th of October, at a Moscow event, he became the first champion of the Atrium Cup tournament. He had beaten three opponents to get there.

  The next three years were a blur of regional shows. He stayed undefeated and finished 11 of his 12 opponents. One of them was Shahbulat Shamhalaev, who was caught in a first-round armbar in Nurmagomedov's debut for M-1 Global. Shamhalaev later challenged for a Bellator title.

  A record of 16-0 on the circuits of Russia and Ukraine caught the attention of the UFC. Getting there was messier than the record suggests. His father later revealed that a contract dispute with the promotion ProFC led to 11 court cases over the legitimacy of the UFC deal. They lost six and won five before an agreement let Khabib continue.

  In late 2011 he signed a six-fight contract with the UFC lightweight division. His debut came on the 20th of January 2012 against Kamal Shalorus, who submitted in the third round. On the 7th of July 2012 he beat Gleison Tibau by unanimous decision, with every judge scoring it 30-27. It was the first fight he prepared for at the American Kickboxing Academy.

  His fourth UFC bout, on the 19th of January 2013, ended with a first-round knockout of Thiago Tavares. Afterward Tavares tested positive for the steroid drostanolone and received a nine-month suspension.

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• 4. Mauling

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  At UFC 160 on the 25th of May 2013, Nurmagomedov stepped onto the scale at 158.5 pounds. The lightweight limit was 156. He was given two hours to cut the weight, yet he chose instead to give up a percentage of his purse to opponent Abel Trujillo. The fight went ahead at a catchweight.

  In it, he set a UFC record: 21 successful takedowns out of 28 attempts. That number is a fair summary of how he fought. Commentators called his approach mauling, a wrestling-based style of relentless pressure.

  He mixed wrestling takedowns with judo and sambo throws, then pushed opponents against the cage. He trapped their legs and one arm so they could not escape. From there he wore them out with his body weight and landed measured strikes they often could not defend. Of his 29 wins, 19 came by knockout, technical knockout or submission.

  The numbers back up the eye test. He sits third in UFC lightweight history for control time, at one hour, 29 minutes and 8 seconds, and third for takedowns landed, with 59.

  UFC president Dana White saw it early. After the win over Pat Healy on the 21st of September 2013, he said of Nurmagomedov: "That slam, when he just scoops him up and slams him, Matt Hughes style. That reminded me of the old Matt Hughes where he would run a guy across the Octagon and slam him. The kid is exciting. We're probably going to do big things with this kid."

  Randy Couture called him "brilliant." Joe Rogan said: "He's the most terrifying lightweight contender in the world," and added that against him "the odds of beating him drop significantly after the first minute-and-a-half." Referee Herb Dean noticed another habit, that Nurmagomedov talked to his opponents throughout his fights.

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• 5. The Long Wait

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  On a social media post in December 2013, Nurmagomedov challenged Gilbert Melendez, with a fight pencilled in for UFC 170 on the 22nd of February 2014. It fell through for undisclosed reasons. Nate Diaz was named as the replacement and then turned the fight down. Nurmagomedov told The MMA Hour: "If they say that they're willing to fight the best, they should fight the best. If they want, I'll take them both at once in the cage."

  On the 19th of April 2014 he beat former champion Rafael dos Anjos by unanimous decision, 30-27 on every card. Then injuries took over. A bout with Donald Cerrone was scrapped in 2014 over a knee injury. A rematch plan for UFC 187 in May 2015 collapsed when the knee flared up again, and John Makdessi took his place. In late October 2015 he pulled out of a December fight with Tony Ferguson, and Edson Barboza replaced him.

  The fight with Ferguson was rebooked for the 16th of April 2016. This time Ferguson withdrew on the 5th of April with a lung issue. Newcomer Darrell Horcher stepped in at a catchweight of 160 pounds and lost by second-round TKO.

  In September 2016 Nurmagomedov signed two contracts for a title shot against champion Eddie Alvarez. Dana White confirmed the bout for UFC 205. Then, on the 26th of September, the UFC announced that Alvarez would defend against Conor McGregor instead. Nurmagomedov publicly insulted Alvarez and accused the UFC of running a freak show.

  He fought Michael Johnson at UFC 205 on the 12th of November 2016. As he dominated, he could be heard telling Dana White to give him a title shot. He won by third-round submission.

  Ferguson came up a third time, on the 4th of March 2017, with an interim title at stake. Nurmagomedov fell ill because of a botched weight cut, and the bout was cancelled. He returned on the 30th of December 2017 against Edson Barboza. Scores of 30-25, 30-25 and 30-24 made it his first Performance of the Night bonus.

  A fourth Ferguson date was set for the 7th of April 2018 at UFC 223. On the 1st of April, Ferguson hurt his knee, and Max Holloway was named as his replacement. On the 6th of April, the New York State Athletic Commission declared Holloway unfit because of extreme weight cutting. The first alternative, Anthony Pettis, missed the championship limit of 155 pounds by 0.2 and chose not to re-weigh. The second, Paul Felder, was rejected because he was not in the UFC rankings.

  Al Iaquinta took the fight. He also weighed in 0.2 pounds over the limit, which meant only Nurmagomedov could win the title. He did, by unanimous decision with scores of 50-44, 50-43 and 50-43, and he became the UFC Lightweight Champion.

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• 6. The Night In Las Vegas

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  On Friday, the 3rd of August 2018, the UFC announced that Nurmagomedov would make his first title defense against Conor McGregor. The date was the 6th of October at UFC 229 in Las Vegas.

  He won the first two rounds. McGregor took the third, which made it the first round Nurmagomedov had ever lost in the UFC. In the fourth round, he finished McGregor with a neck crank submission at 3 minutes and 3 seconds. His record stood at 27-0, then the longest winning streak in UFC history. The card drew 2.4 million pay-per-view buys, the most ever for an MMA event.

  What happened next overshadowed the fight. Nurmagomedov climbed over the fence of the Octagon and charged at McGregor's cornerman Dillon Danis, who had reportedly shouted insults. His cousin Abubakar Nurmagomedov traded punches with McGregor. Two of Khabib's cornermen, Zubaira Tukhugov and Esed Emiragaev, then attacked McGregor from behind inside the cage.

  Tukhugov had been booked to fight Artem Lobov on the 27th of October 2018. Lobov was the McGregor teammate Nurmagomedov had confronted in April 2018. Tukhugov was removed from the card on the 17th of October.

  The Nevada State Athletic Commission withheld Khabib's pay while it investigated. In his post-fight interview he apologized and said McGregor's trash talk and the earlier UFC 223 bus incident had provoked him. "You cannot talk about religion. You cannot talk about nation. Guys, you cannot talk about these things. This is very important to me," he said. On Instagram he wrote that he had warned McGregor he would pay for everything he had done. His father Abdulmanap said he held no grudge and invited McGregor to train in Russia.

  On the 24th of October, the commission released half of his $2 million purse. On the 29th of January 2019 it announced a nine-month suspension and a $500,000 fine, backdated to the 6th of October 2018. McGregor received six months and $50,000. Abubakar and Tukhugov each received 12 months and $25,000.

  Nurmagomedov complained about the rulings and said he no longer wished to fight in Nevada. His next two fights were held in Abu Dhabi.

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• 7. A Promise To His Mother

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  In June 2019, Nurmagomedov signed a new multi-fight UFC contract. The first fight under it came on the 7th of September 2019 at UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi, against interim champion Dustin Poirier. He won with a rear-naked choke in the third round, unified the two belts and earned his second Performance of the Night award.

  Afterward the two men swapped shirts. Nurmagomedov said he would sell Poirier's shirt and donate the money to Poirier's charity. It sold for $100,000, and Dana White matched the amount.

  A fifth attempt at the Ferguson fight was set for the 18th of April 2020 at UFC 249. Both men carried 12-fight winning streaks. Nurmagomedov could not leave Russia because of COVID-19 travel restrictions, and was removed from the card. Justin Gaethje fought Ferguson for the interim belt, which had been postponed to the 9th of May. Gaethje won by fifth-round TKO and earned a title shot.

  In between, Nurmagomedov's father Abdulmanap caught COVID-19 after heart surgery. In May 2020 he was placed in a medically induced coma. He died on the 3rd of July 2020 in a Moscow clinic, at the age of 57.

  On the 24th of October 2020, Nurmagomedov faced Gaethje at UFC 254 in Abu Dhabi. He won with a triangle choke in the second round, at 1 minute and 34 seconds, and collected another Performance of the Night award. Daniel Cormier later said Khabib told him he chose the triangle over an armbar so Gaethje would not be hurt.

  Then came the announcement. "No way I'm going to come here without my father," he said in the cage. He explained that after his father's death, he spoke with his mother for three days before agreeing to fight. "She doesn't want me to go fight without my father but I promised her it was going to be my last fight. If I give my word, I have to follow this. It was my last fight here."

  The UFC tried to bring him back for one more bout. On the 19th of March 2021, Dana White said he accepted the decision, and the lightweight title was officially vacated. By then Nurmagomedov had held it for 1077 days, the longest lightweight reign the UFC had seen. The UFC Hall of Fame inducted him in 2022.

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• 8. Life After The Cage

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  Retirement did not take him out of the sport. He bought a Russian promotion called the Gorilla Fighting Championship for $1 million and renamed it the Eagle Fighting Championship.

  He also returned to the American Kickboxing Academy, working under head coach Javier Mendez. His students and corner clients included Islam Makhachev, Belal Muhammad, Zubaira Tukhugov and his cousins Abubakar, Umar and Usman Nurmagomedov. He was due to corner Makhachev against Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284, but in January 2023 he stepped away from coaching entirely to focus on his family.

  That break did not last. He came back as a cornerman for Makhachev's title defenses against Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 and Renato Moicano at UFC 311. At UFC 311 he also cornered Umar against Merab Dvalishvili for the bantamweight title. In November 2025 he was in Makhachev's corner at UFC 322, when Makhachev beat Jack Della Maddalena for the welterweight championship.

  Home life stayed central. Khabib married Patimat in June 2013, and they have three children. Their first son was named Magomed, after Khabib's great-grandfather. He is a devoted football fan who supports Anzhi Makhachkala, Galatasaray, Real Madrid, Liverpool and the Russian national team. In August 2021, rumors said he had signed with the third-tier club Legion Dynamo. He denied it and said he was simply a close friend of the club.

  His fame reached well beyond fighting. He is the first Muslim to win a UFC title. In October 2020 The Guardian called him the second-most-popular Muslim athlete in the world, behind only Mohamed Salah. By December 2022 he was the most-followed Russian on Instagram, with more than 34 million followers. In 2019 Forbes ranked him the most successful Russian athlete. He won the BBC World Sport Star of the Year award for 2020.

  Honors came from Russian regional leaders as well. In October 2018, Grozny made him an honorary citizen, and Chechnya's leader Ramzan Kadyrov gave him a Mercedes. In December 2019, the head of Dagestan awarded him and his father the Order For Services to the Republic of Dagestan.

  Those ties are part of the controversy around him. He appealed to Vladimir Putin during the UFC 223 post-fight speech for the release of his early backer, the billionaire Ziyavudin Magomedov, who had been arrested on embezzlement charges. He also hosted a seminar at a club funded by Kadyrov, whose government has faced criticism for human rights abuses.

  The Guardian wrote that after beating McGregor, he used his influence to promote an ultra-conservative worldview. In 2018 he backed a crackdown on nightclubs in Dagestan, and criticism from him led the rapper Egor Kreed to cancel shows in the region. In 2019 he called a Dagestan play "filth" and urged an official investigation, and its producer reportedly received threats online. In October 2020 he posted a harsh condemnation of French president Emmanuel Macron, and was accused of inciting violence.

  In 2024, Russian authorities seized his bank accounts, accusing him of improperly paying taxes. Authorities also raided his Makhachkala gym after reports that a former trainee was involved in attacks on Christian and Jewish places of worship in Dagestan.

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