Khabib Nurmagomedov Worried About ‘Never Happened Before’ Two Title Fights in His Team as Islam Makhachev and Umar Prepare for UFC 311

The UFC kicking off 2025 in spectacular fashion with UFC 311 is proving to be a challenge for Khabib Nurmagomedov. The leader of the Dagestani pack finds himself in an unprecedented situation of being in the corner for two title fights on the same night.

His cousin Umar ‘Young Eagle’ Nurmagomedov is finally getting his first-ever title shot against bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili. Umar and Merab have been at loggerheads since, the former defeated Cory Sandhagen, and the latter defeated Sean O’Malley to win the title. 

Merab has been actively dodging Umar, claiming that the ‘Young Eagle’ needed to get more experience under his belt to be able to challenge for the title. He had even called out everyone from O’Malley to Petr Yan and offered them title fights against him. But the UFC seems to have had other plans.

So, January 18 will be a busy night for the Nurmagomedov clan.

Then there’s lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, who will defend his belt for the fourth time and in arguably the toughest fight of his championship reign. Islam will have a rematch against Arman Tsarukyan, who earned the right to fight him by defeating Charles Oliveria at UFC 300. 

Islam has already fought Tsarukyan once in 2019. And even though he had won by a unanimous decision back then, things have since changed. Tsarukyan has had far more experience fighting high-caliber opponents and is a better challenger for it. His grappling, already deadly back in 2019 has also improved.

Islam, on the other hand, tried his luck at striking against an opponent like Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 and got opened up for it. This was the first time in his title reign that the champion looked vulnerable. And even though he pulled a rabbit out of the hat to submit Poirier for the win, if he allows Tsarukyan to get as close, the landscape of the UFC might look drastically different by the end of the night.

So, for Khabib, the stakes couldn’t be higher, as he navigates the pressure and emotions of having two of his closest teammates in career-defining fights on the same night. ‘The Eagle’ took to Instagram to share a video of Dana White announcing the fights and shared his excitement with the fans. 

“What a night is waiting for me I hope I’ll survive.”

If Khabib does indeed survive and his boy does win on the night, this will mean that the Dagestani camp at AKA will have two titles in the UFC and one title in Bellator with Usman Nurmagomedov as lightweight champion. And since Belal Muhammad often trains with them as well, that’s 4 titles right there for the AKA gym.

And with this, Khabib would have truly become one of the most distinguished coaches of all time in mixed martial arts.

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s evolution as a coach 

AKA coach Javier Mendez recently has shed light on how Khabib Nurmagomedov has truly come into his own as a coach in MMA. Despite retiring undefeated only four years ago, Khabib has ensured that his father Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov’s dream of creating champions has come true. 

According to Mendez, Khabib has always had a knack for coaching—even when he was still competing. Khabib is notorious for taking over the training once he joins the camp and making everyone work till they drop. 

Reflecting on his newfound passion, Mendez says,

“He (Khabib) is the leader now, just like his father was…I come in and do my part, but Khabib runs the show.”

Hopefully, he can continue living his father’s dream and help the boys win more titles in the time to come.