Khabib Nurmagomedov retired back in October of 2020 following a submission victory over Justin Gaethje. He was 32 at the time. His MMA record consisted of 29 wins and no losses.
Nurmagomedov retired following a heart to heart with his mother in the wake of the tragic death of his father who succumbed to corona virus in the summer of 2020.
“I talk with my mother for three days, she doesn’t want that I go fight without my father. I promised her, it’s going to be my last fight, and if I give my word, I have to follow this. It was my last fight here.” Khabib said in the final interview in the octagon.
In the cage, Khabib was very emotional and was rendered into tears as he put his gloves on the canvas. He made the plea to be the number 1 on the UFC pound for pound rankings during his octagon speech. UFC would go on to fulfil this wish the following week.
While the UFC tried to cajole him out of retirement several times even going so far as to offer him a lucrative grappling match, Nurmagomedov’s resolve couldn’t be shaken.
He had been trained by his father since infancy, infamously wrestling a circus bear and learning about life, persistency and unfairness under the guidance of his father.
THis is apparently a tradition he kept up with his son. Nurmagomedov recently revealed his son had started in the sport even younger than he did.
He told Red Corner MMA
:
“My son is already training [wrestling] and doing gymnastics. He has a good coach that I trust. He already trains in Makhachkala. He started earlier than I did, at three-and-a-half years of age.”
“You have a better candidate than me? I’ll be coaching him.”
This is a departure from what Nurmagomedov said previously:
“I don’t want him to go through all that I went. Because in professional sports most people don’t see what is inside. They only see a picture and videotapes which are like 40 minutes. They will see my walkout and my fight. but they don’t see 25 years of work I went through or how many surgeries I had on my knee, back, and ribs. How 1.5-2 years ago nearly died while weight cut. people don’t see it all.”