Khabib Nurmagomedov capped his career in MMA at UFC 269 with a victory over Justin Gaethje. Following the passing of his father, he decided to oblige his mother and give up on his professional career and as he says ‘the fire just wasn’t there” any more.
But he’s certainly an interesting case of a champion who didn’t let loose and kept racking up impressive performances.
“When you become famous and rich, when you gain power and [around you] there are no people who will give advice or you do not listen to them, then something will happen. You need good people, even if you don’t like it, you need them,” he added
Nurmagomedov boasts of maintaining the same circle of friends he’s had since he was a teenager plus a couple of AKA veterans.
Chimaev might be a promising talent but the fact remains that Allstar Sweden never had a UFC champion training in their camp. The closest the European gym got was when Gustafsson got his shot against Jon Jones. He’s since racked up quite a number of losses and is rumored to be retiring soon.
Besides Gustafsson, the gym is also home to Guram Kutateladze in addition to drop in star Darren Till whose star was on the decline before he ever met Chimaev.
Cormier’s previously also expressed concern about the smeshbros.
Watching the buddy-buddy interactions between the two Daniel Cormier expressed his concern for Chimaev:
“I love the whole buddy-buddy thing with Darren Till but I think it’s a mistake. I think he should continue to be a mystery to people. I think he should have as little time in front of the public and showing who he is, pulling the curtain back. I would pull the curtain back as little as I could if I’m Khamzat, just because the mystery is good for him. He’s very scary.”