Although he has stepped away from the sport, Khabib Nurmagomedov has not stopped training… unlike a certain former two-division champion from his team! ‘The Eagle’ always cut significant weight to make 155-pounds but now that he is retired, Khabib does not have to starve himself and that means… ‘beefcake Khabib’!
‘The Eagle’ has been spending the last few weeks in the United States training at the American Kickboxing academy. The 35-year-old under the watchful eye of head coach Javier Mendez is carefully training and guiding the next generation of Dagestani champions.
Another addition to the training camp has been former heavyweight champion and the first of three three kings from AKA, Cain Velasquez.
Yesterday, Makkasharip Zaynukov of Khabib’s team, posted a picture alongside the former lightweight and the former heavyweight champion.
In the picture, Khabib looks like he could go fight in the middleweight or the light heavyweight division. The 35-year-old seems to have put on a significant amount of muscle, something fans noticed as well!
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One fan said, “Khabib is jacked. Pure 200 lb of muscle.”
Another fan had a similar train of thought saying, “Khabib is in great shape.”
“Is This Habib’s Actual Form?”– commented another fan shocked at the transformation.
A fan commented saying, “Khabib looks strong.”
Another fan said, “Damn Khabib looks huge in this picture.”
Needless to say, ‘The Eagle’s presence in the training camp is certainly going to be a massive help both in training and psychologically, especially as he makes drastic changes to camps.
Khabib prepares the next generation of champions
Following his retirement from the sport, ‘The Eagle’ donned the hat of head coach for the likes of Islam Makhachev, Umar Nurmagomedov and Usman Nurmagomedov. His primary goal was to get Islam the lightweight belt as that was what his father had envisioned. Once that was done, ‘The Eagle’ stepped away from being a coach as he said he wanted to spend more time with his family.
Then for about a period of two years, we never saw Khabib anywhere near the UFC or training camps for his teammates. However, that changed recently as the undefeated Dagestani returned to Islam’s corner for his toughest bout, a title match against Dustin Poirier.
Since then, Khabibhas been spotted regularly in training camp for all of his fighters. Now whether he is there to help Umar take the bantamweight title for O’Malley or if he just enjoys being with the boys, only time can tell.
