The former UFC champ-champ, Daniel Cormier, may have bid goodbye to his in-octagon career four years ago. Yet, that doesn’t stop him from visiting the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) where he used to train during his days as a fighter. While Cormier’s latest Instagram story revealed that he paid another visit to Javier Mendez’s training center recently, it left the former UFC lightweight champ, Khabib Nurmagomedov, nostalgic as he penned a few emotional words about his second “home.”
Javier Mendez and the AKA have provided the UFC several noteworthy fighters, including Khabib Nurmagomedov, Cain Velasquez, and Luke Rockhold. Well, from the looks of it, ‘DC’ actually wanted his former mates to have flashbacks of their AKA memories. This is probably why he tagged the stars in his AKA-related Instagram story.
Interestingly, Khabib went a step further as he shared DC’s post on his own Instagram story before labeling the AKA as his “home,” writing,
“Missing my home”
@TeamKhabib feels for his second “home” after witnessing @dc_mma in his former training center, The American Kickboxing Academy… @akajav pic.twitter.com/aNjuGGSc8P
— Souvik Roy (@realbong97) May 8, 2024
Well, Khabib’s feeling of homesickness is quite understandable as most people do feel nostalgic when they come across a place they have spent a lot of time at previously.
Moreover, apart from being a fighter, ‘The Eagle’ also used to act as an assisting coach at AKA. However, his students once wanted him sent back to Russia due to one specific reason.
Khabib Nurmagomedov makes current AKA trainees go through extremely grueling training sessions
An old video from the AKA head honcho, Javier Mendez, showcased some of his current trainees urging him to send his assistant coach, Khabib, back to Russia. The group of fighters also included Khabib’s cousin, Umar Nurmagomedov.
Their panting in the video was enough to suggest that Khabib had made them go through an extremely testing session of training, which is why Umar and the others wanted Mendez to send him back to Dagestan.
The current situation reveals that ‘The Eagle’ isn’t coaching in the AKA anymore. Yet, Khabib sharing Cormier’s Instagram story suggests that the Dagestani could pay a visit to his old training facility and might even choose to take back his coaching responsibilities.
