Khabib Nurmagomedov’s latest post about Islam Makhachev was not a hit among the fans. The former UFC champion is currently in Newark, helping Makhachev train for his fight against Dustin Poirier. Hence, while UFC fans are quite excited about ‘The Eagle’ also being present at Makhachev’s corner during the fight, his latest Instagram post depicted the situation in a very distasteful light.
Khabib is known for the influence he exerts on other fighters from Dagestan, as most look up to him for inspiration. In the same vein, ‘The Eagle’ posted a fan art poster on Instagram, which showed him posing with a Playstation controller while Makhachev stood below. This made fans believe the 35-year-old was undermining Makhachev’s efforts, and they did not hesitate to make their views known.
View this post on Instagram
Fans in the comments section started calling Khabib Nurmagomedov arrogant for the post. One fan stated this was the first time he saw the former champ behave this way,
“First time I see arrogance from khabib ..”
One fan could not comprehend the meaning of the photo and commented,
“What is the meaning of this photo man”
This fan even went to the extent of questioning Khabib Nurmagomedov’s character after looking at the post,
“Khabib? You posting this? Not like you or your character at all”
Another fan called out ‘The Eagle’ for disrespecting Islam Makahchev by making it seem like he is controlling him,
“bro this looks disrespectful”
Yet another commenter took the opportunity to talk about how Islam Makhachev will always be in Khabib Nurmagomedov’s shadow,
“Islam will never be his own fighter always in Khabibs shadow”
Despite the backlash from fans, the spirits seem to be high in the Dagestani camp ahead of the fight. In fact, Nurmagomedov and the champion were even spotted making fun of Ali Abdelaziz for his cooking.
Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev rate Ali Abdelaziz’s cooking during training camp
Khabib Nurmagomedov flew down from Russia to join Islam Makhachev’s camp for the UFC 302 fight. On top of it, he will be present in the Dagestani’s corner when he takes on Dustin Poirier in what is set to be a thrilling title defense.
Still, if the first episode of the UFC 302 embedded vlog series is anything to go by, the mood is quite light in the Dagestani camp. In the video shared on YouTube, the cameraman can be seen asking Nurmagomedov and Makhachev to rate Ali Abdelaziz’s cooking. Here’s what the champ had to say about it,
“He’s not cooking. He just put like, fry and mash all up. Somebody cooked already.”
Although Islam Makhachev criticized Abdelaziz’s cooking, Khabib Nurmagomedov gave the manager a solid 4.5 out of 5. Well, with so many individuals giving it their all to support Makhachev, it remains to see if he will live up to his potential at UFC 302.
