Khabib Nurmagomedov undoubtedly ranks among the finest wrestlers in the history of UFC. But when necessary, the former lightweight champion has shown off his incredible striking. However, ‘The Eagle’ rose up the ranks mostly by rag-dolling his opponents inside the cage.
There was no match in the lightweight division for Nurmagomedov’s wrestling. The abilities, nevertheless, didn’t come naturally. The Russian MMA star has been practicing since he was very young. Even a clip of him grappling with a bear cub in his youth is popular in the MMA world.
Now, this is an extremely uncommon method of improving one’s ground game. However, there is more than one. Chael Sonnen, a former middleweight championship contender for the UFC, once disclosed another one of Nurmagomedov’s varied training techniques.
What did Chael Sonnen say about Khabib Nurmagomedov?
Sonnen is a veteran of the sport with a record of 29-15. He last competed in 2013 and departed from the UFC. Following that he has taken up the role of MMA analyst. Sonnen has his own YouTube channel where he shares his opinions on everything happening in the MMA world.
While talking about Nurmagomedov’s training session Sonnen revealed that he used to grapple with a total of five opponents in one session. “Okay, so Khabib comes in, he’s got five guys and what the workout is gonna be is one-by-one, Khabib is gonna work out with each guy until each guy gives up,” Sonnen said.
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“Once the guy’s had enough, reaches a level of exhaustion, he’s done and the next guy comes in…He didn’t hurt them, it was grappling work. He didn’t hurt these guys. he just put a pace on them… Khabib brought in five guys and wore them all out,” Sonnen added.
During his career and even after, ‘The Eagle’ has been hailed as one of the greatest MMA fighters by many big names including veteran color commentator Joe Rogan and even UFC president Dana White. Thus, it is not new for the Russian star.
More on Khabib Nurmagomedov’s career
‘The Eagle’ has a perfect 29-0 professional fighting record under his name. After defending his title one last time in 2020, Nurmagomedov hung up his MMA gloves forever.
However, the Russian legend didn’t leave the sport completely. He took his father’s place as a coach and started training his friends and teammates for their MMA careers. He had a good run in his coaching career as well given that Islam Makhachev and Usman Nurmagomedov became champions in their competition.
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However, recently many of Nurmagomedov’s teammates and close friends revealed that ‘The Eagle’ has now left all aspects of MMA. Thus, we might not see the former UFC champion often in his teammates’ corners.
What are your thoughts on Nurmagomedov’s career? What do you guys think about Sonnen’s words for Nurmagomedov?
