There’s been a lot of talk about the methodology Khabib Nurmagomedov and his teammates used to accomplish dominance in the octagon.
With the crowning of Islam Makhachev, the hype for Dagestanti school of wrestling is at an all time high.
The conditions they typically train in can seem archaic. Nurmagomedov was quoted saying:
“We had guys on our team that didn’t last very long. For example, we had a training camp in the mountains. We didn’t have the greatest conditions there; we slept on the floor and trained outside. We ran on stones up the mountains, old school style.”
“Some guys came and saw that we had no TVs, for example. The guy keeps going and asks: “Do you have Wi-Fi?” Oh, there’s no Wi-Fi here… What about showers?” I tell him we bathe in the spring. “Is there a washing machine?” No, we wash our own clothes.
He takes a look at the surroundings and quickly leaves.”
“My father would notice that guys like that came and went. He’d always say: “If we lose him, we’re not losing anything. Guys eliminated themselves.”
According to Khabib Nurmagomedov’s longtime trainer Javier Mendez, Khabib puts competitors under house arrest if they break from their schedule during a camp.
The former UFC lightweight champion has filled his father Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov’s shoes by taking on the position of a coach since he announced his retirement from competing due to the untimely death of his father.
Coach Khabib enforces rigorous rules and shows a genuine interest in his athletes’ success by reacting passionately at the cage.
On a recent edition of The Schmozone, Mendez spoke about how Khabib Nurmagomedov has put a technology curfew in place:
“That’s what Khabib does to the fighters. When he finds out they are super tired, he’ll curfew for them… I think it was 10 or 11 PM. He would go collect their phones. He has a jail at home when they go out of line, he puts them in jail.”
Mendez also said: “He takes their phones away and puts them in jail. He’s very strict. You get out of line, you’re going in the wrong area, he’s going to… because that’s what his father did.”