In a recent interview, the ex-trainer of UFC great Georges St-Pierre praised former champion Khabib Nurmagomedov of Russia and also brought attention to one of his underappreciated abilities.
Many fans and UFC experts consider ‘The Eagle’ to be one of the greatest combat sports athletes of all time, mostly due to his flawless professional MMA record.
Even after his retirement, the Russian fighter continues to come up anytime someone discusses the finest fighters in MMA right now. John Danaher, a former coach of GSP and a master of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, recently shared his opinions on the UFC Hall of Famer on a podcast.
What did John Danaher say about Khabib Nurmagomedov?
When questioned about the former UFC lightweight champion, Danaher was nothing but complimentary. In addition, he described how and why Nurmagomedov’s ground game is one of the greatest. Danaher also emphasized a skill of Nurmagomedov that, in his opinion, the audience is less familiar with.
Danaher said, “He beat people from every style, he beat wrestlers, he beat jiu-jitsu players, he beat kickboxers, and he controlled them all in the same way. He has a very underrated bottom game.”
“People think that he’s all about stifling top control. But people forget he was taken down on several occasions. He showed excellent guard work from the bottom. He was able to get into submission holds on opponents from bottom position,” he added.
No doubt, ‘The Eagle’ had one of the best ground games in the UFC. Because of this, many fighters struggled to outperform the Russians. Besides that, Nurmagomedov was also better on his foot, which fans saw well in his last three fights before retiring.
Khabib Nurmagomedov’s prodigy is one step closer to the UFC gold
After retiring from the UFC, Nurmagomedov started training his friends and teammates for their MMA career. One of the fighters who trained under Nurmagomedov is Makhachev.
Makhachev showed drastic improvement since then. ‘The Eagle’ also corners him during the fights, which becomes a big advantage for Makhachev, given Nurmagomedov’s experience.
The former UFC champion also wanted Makhachev to hold the title after him. Now Makhachev is a step closer to that dream as he fights Charles Oliveira on 22nd October in Abu Dhabi for the UFC lightweight gold.
It will be interesting to see if Makhachev can get the better of Oliveira with Nurmagomedov in the corner.
