Luke Rockhold, a former UFC champion and Khabib Nurmagomedov’s ex-teammate, made headlines recently by talking about his first interaction with ‘The Eagle.’ Khabib Nurmagomedov started training in martial arts at a very young age under the tutelage of his father. ‘The Eagle’ was a world champion in combat sambo and used that as a base to transition to MMA.
However, both ‘The Eagle’ and his father knew that they would need to join a bigger training camp in the United States to unlock his full potential. This led Nurmagomedov to AKA in San Jose where he met Rockhold for the first time.
Luke Rockhold was a long-time member of the American Kickboxing Academy. Just like Nurmagomedov, Rockhold achieved world champion status under the tutelage of Javier Mendez. In a recent episode of the ‘Jaxxon’ podcast, Rockhold revealed what his first interaction with Nurmagomedov was like, saying,
“Yeah Khabib just showed up on our doorstep one day by himself. I was like who is this guy? He’s tough. I kind of brought Khabib under my wing. I think Mo brought him in. I think he was friends with Mo or something. Anyway, then Khabib brought Islam and then it just kind of continually ran through and he kept bringing all the boys.”
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Rockhold went on to add that when Nurmagomedov first joined the camp, he did not speak a lot of English. Slowly over time, ‘The Eagle’ picked up the language and acted as a translator for the likes of Makhachev and other fighters. Furthermore, he claimed that from the very first day, ‘The Eagle’ made sure that all of his teammates were taken care of and grew along with him in the gym.
Khabib Nurmagomedov to return to coach Islam Makhachev?
After retiring from the UFC, ‘The Eagle’ assumed the role of head coach for Islam Makhachev and other fighters in his team. Once Makhachev achieved world champion status, Nurmagomedov stepped away from coaching for good. However, against Dustin Poirier, Nurmagomedov played a very active role in the camp for Islam.
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For the first time since October 2022, ‘The Eagle’ also acted as a cornerman. In a recent interview, Makhachev stated that Nurmagomedov will not be in the corner at every fight. However, he will serve as a cornerman for important fights. Makhachev also went on to add that he would like to fight once more before the end of this year following an impressive win at UFC 302.
