Khabib Nurmagomedov could still be a world champion if he were to return to fighting today, according to one teammate.
Ibragim Ibragimov, who makes his debut under the PFL banner this weekend, has been in camp with the former UFC champion on a number of occasions in his native Dagestan. And despite quitting the sport around four years ago, he is still competing at the top level behind closed doors in the gym.
The Manchester-based Dagestani featherweight was most recently pictured just over a month ago with the unbeaten former lightweight champion. And he believes that even now, tipping the scales at closer to the light-heavyweight limit, Nurmagomedov could be a world champion again if he made a cage return.
Khabib Nurmagomedov’s teammate details intense training sessions
When Khabib Nurmagomedov retired in October of 2020, he was believed to be at the peak of his powers amid an historically dominant run. But when his mother insisted that he hang up the gloves following his father’s passing, he vowed never to fight again.
That hasn’t stopped him from training, and he returned to the corner last weekend at UFC 302 as Islam Makhachev defeated Dustin Poirier in a record-tying title defence. And Ibragimov has said that he actively takes part in lengthy, gruelling training sessions despite not being an active athlete.
“I’ve been twice for training camp once when Islam was training for the [Charles] Oliveira fight and then I was just there when they had moved to New Jersey,” Ibragimov told Bloody Elbow in an exclusive chat. “Khabib was in the gym about five times.
“He was controlling everything during sparring sessions and pushing us hard, it was a very good camp. You know what this guy does? He’s about 92kg (202lb) and he goes over there and beats very good fighters who could be world champions, active fighters.
“He travels around with them for camp and stuff and he just mauls them all. His control is just different; Khabib is Khabib, right? He is crazy!”
Khabib Nurmagomedov has maintained famous stamina despite piling on pounds
Perhaps the most difficult part of fighting Khabib Nurmagomedov during his dominant run was his ability to push the pace throughout all five rounds. And despite ballooning from a 155lb fight weight to now living at about 202lb, he can still do it at the same rate.
“We were training up there getting our sparring rounds done and one day he came and said ‘let’s wrestle now’,” Ibragimov explained. “So we start wrestling and the timer is set for five minutes. Then the timer goes off.
“Guys are shouting at him from the back and he goes ‘there is no time until I said time’ and then he did another 14 minutes! We did another 14 minutes and we’re still going, everyone’s dying. Imagine sparring five fives, then wrestling non-stop for 20 minutes right afterwards.
“Then afterwards we had to walk with our hands behind our heads and do this walk on our knees before standing up and running. After that then he made us do this crazy plank that he does where you’re on your hands and on your toes. You have to do that until whenever he stops.”
Ibragim Ibragimov plotting dominant performance in PFL debut this weekend
After such an intensive camp, Ibragimov is confident that he can do anything when he steps into the PFL Smart Cage for the first time tomorrow night on the undercard of boxing champion Savannah Marshall’s MMA debut. After six wins in his first six fights, he steps up to faces 21-bout veteran Josh Reed.
But he doesn’t feel that it is a move up in competition, explaining: “To be honest, he’s a vet with a lot of fights and a lot of experience but the way I’m training I know for a fact that he doesn’t train as much as me. I train a lot and put a lot of work in.
“I can’t be outworked and I can’t be beat by these guys because I’m training and I know how good I am and I know what I’m capable of. So I’m going to go there and do what I know I’m capable of on Saturday night.”
Ibragim Ibragimov faces Josh Reed at PFL Newcastle on Saturday June 8. Tickets are available on Ticketmaster