Following his cousin Usman Nurmagomedov’s impressive title defense against Alexander Shabliy, Khabib Nurmagomedov took to Instagram to reflect and honor his late father. In his post, he shared his Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov’s words, “keeping the old qualities, we move on,” paying tribute to the lessons that have shaped his family’s success in the fight game.
Usman’s victory is just another chapter in the growing coaching legacy of Khabib, who has stepped into his father’s role of guiding the next generation of fighters.
For the former UFC lightweight champion, it’s all about staying grounded in those timeless values while continuing to push forward in the sport. And it’s clearly working!
Usman is the new breed of champions that Khabib and his team are grooming to carry forward the fighting legacy of the Nurmagomedovs.
The 26-year-old just took on an extremely talented fighter in Shabliy in a back and forth five rounder. And he did enough consistently over the course of the fight to win on all three judges’ scorecards at the end of the fight.
Following the win, ‘The Eagle’ posted on Instagram sharing his thoughts and congratulating his brother.
“Thanks to everyone who worried and cheered, we as a whole team feel and see it, and we in turn try to meet the expectations of all those who are close to us in spirit and mentality, and if anyone was upset with our victory, we apologize, that’s what sport is – one wins and the other loses. As my Father told us: keeping the old qualities, we move on.”
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The win just further cements the legacy of the Nurmagomedov clan. Khabib and his team are close to having three active champions across two major MMA promotions.
Building the Nurmagomedov dynasty
The plan was always that Islam Makhachev would carry on the name of the gym after Khabib was done. And that is exactly what Islam has done. He has exceeded all expectations fans have had of him and secured some extremely impressive wins.
He’s not only successfully defended his lightweight title thrice, he has done so in style, improving aspects of his own game during each camp. During his last fight against former interim lightweight champion, Dustin Poirier, Makhchev outboxed him.
Not grapple, not take downs but actually outbox the best boxer in the division and then finished him with a spin and a choke that Poirier had ever even seen before.
Usman is a champion at Bellator and a third champion is potentially just one win away. Umar Nurmagomedov is the number one contender in the 135-pound division and will take on the winner of O’Malley vs Dvalishvili.
If he wins that, Eagle’s MMA will have three active champions a feat that some of the much bigger and well established gyms in the US have not been able to achieve.
Oh and since Belal Muhammad, the welterweight champion also trains with their team, that’s technically four champions in there!
