It’s been roughly nine months since Khabib Nurmagomedov retired from MMA. This past July 3rd marked the one-year anniversary of his father, Abdulmanap’s, death – the event that sealed the legendary fighter’s departure from the sport that bound him and his late patriarch together.
Khabib hung up his gloves at 32. With an unblemished 29-0 record, many believed that Khabib was too young to call it a career and had much more to accomplish in MMA. But the Dagestani fighter, widely considered one of the sport’s greatest ever, ended one chapter to continue the one left by his father.
Abdulmanap was more than his son’s coach and trainer. He was one of those rare fighting savants that loom heavy in combat sports. A Cus D’Amato of MMA, if you will, who helped raise a village of fighters that are taking the sport by storm. Instead of the Catskills Mountains, where D’Amato molded Floyd Patterson and a raw Mike Tyson into heavyweight champions, Abdulmanap’s terrain was the North Caucuses, where a young Khabib and Islam Makhachev stood apart as his star pupils.
This Saturday, July 17, Makhachev will head UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas, squaring off against Thiago Moises. Makhachev boasts a stellar 19-1 record and is rising to become a contender in the very division Khabib once dominated (lightweight). He aspires to claim the same belt and single-name status his longtime friend holds. Islam is riding an impressive seven-fight win streak, most recently submitting Drew Dober in the third round of their March 3rd fight.
Islam follows in Khabib’s fighting footsteps, yet the latter will walk behind the former as part of the budding contender’s training team.
Filling in where his father left off, Khabib – whose massive shadow can overwhelm many of the up-and-coming fighters in his stable – is keen on remaining in the background and letting his fighter’s performance do the talking. He has quickly adapted to the role of trainer, steering clear of microphones and the spotlight that found him while fighting.
This was quintessential Abdulmanap.
He was a man with a giant footprint and heavy presence who barely spoke while training his fighters. A man who commanded the utmost respect of his champion son who famously shared, “my father’s going to smash me,” after Khabib’s melee with Conor McGregor at UFC 229.
Beyond his influence, Abdulmanap’s persona was heavily imprinted on the brooding style of his pupils. There was nothing showy or forced about Khabib, inside the cage and beyond it. Unlike his arch-nemesis McGregor, he remained confident and collected. He respected all of his opponents and overpowered each and every one of them with that sublime sambo grappling technique.
Islam is cut from that very same cloth.
Unshakably confident, poised, and dominant. With Khabib stepping in where his father left off, Islam has evolved into the most feared fighter in his division. A lightweight boogeyman that even higher-ranked contenders avoid.
This was Khabib’s experience as he climbed up the ranks.
Despite being dodged by high-profile fighters during his climb, Abdulmanap consistently preached humility and patience to his son. These are cornerstones of their Islamic faith that Khabib embodied, and which ultimately won him millions of Muslim fans all over the world.
From Father and Son To Student
Islam is pursuing both the fighting accolades and massive Muslim fanbase akin to Khabib’s. These fans propelled him to global pay-per-view stardom and made him a huge attraction in Muslim-majority areas such as the U.A.E., where he has established a footing.
The UFC’s Dana White is keen on filling the Muslim and Middle Eastern market void left by Khabib. He doesn’t have to look past the man with the archetypal name – Islam – to find a successor.
Khabib’s time has not ended. Rather, it has only begun, budding in the form of a trainer committed to polishing the next crop of champions from Dagestan, the Caucuses region, and the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) – his home gym in San Jose, California.
Many believe that Islam, who bears the name of the faith synonymous with Khabib, is his most promising protégé. Some of the sport’s leading experts have dubbed Islam, the “next Khabib”.
And Khabib himself predicts that his charge will become a lightweight UFC champion.
“Now, everybody talks about Dustin [Poirier], Conor [McGregor], [Michael] Chandler, Justin [Gaetje], [Charles] Oliveira,” Nurmagomedov told ESPN’s Marc Raimondi. “But by the end of the year, it’s gonna be changed. I don’t think anyone can beat [Makhachev] right now. He will run [the lightweight division].”
Brian Campbell of CBS Sports and the popular combat sports podcast Morning Kombat has also tapped Islam as the next Dagestani champion from Abdulmanap’s “smash factory.” MMA icon and AKA gym mainstay, Daniel Cormier, also predicts that Islam will become champion.
Lofty expectations often come with tremendous pressure. But having Khabib in his corner as a trainer and mentor gives Islam a considerable advantage over his adversaries.
Many of the established names in the lightweight division have avoided a fight with the #9 ranked Islam. A win this Saturday will bring him closer to the top 5 and force them to fight him. Even more dramatically, Islam may be well-positioned in the coming months to fight the downward spiraling Conor McGregor and revitalize the longstanding beef between the brash Irishman and Khabib – a storyline that the UFC is desperately looking to revitalize.
A narrative with Khabib facing off against McGregor, this time as a trainer backing his brother, may be a necessary step Islam may have to take in order to become a champion.
And if anyone can recognize a champion when he sees one, it’s Khabib.
He sees in Islam what his father saw in them both high atop the mountain in Dagestan many years ago. Building Islam into a champion is more than just the next professional chapter of the icon’s story. It’s the most fitting way to honor a man who fathered his career and that of so many hopefuls from a part of the world now celebrated as an MMA hotbed.
