Khabib Nurmagomedov will go down as one of the greatest combat sports athletes of all time, and the most dominant UFC fighter to grace the sport after an untouchable career at the top.
The dominant Dagestani wasn’t always an extremely popular fighter amongst fans, because of his wrestling-heavy style not always appealing to the casual fanbase.
Despite that, Khabib Nurmagomedov began capturing the attention of the masses as he started to utterly brutalize everyone in his way in his pursuit of lightweight gold.
A feud with ‘The Notorious’, Conor McGregor, later in his career gained him tonnes of popularity and new fans, because of the way he represented himself as a champion.
Where is Khabib from?
Khabib Abdulmanapovich Nurmagomedov was born in Sildi, Dagestan, Russia on September 20, 1988, and is, as of July 2024, 35 years old.
Khabib brother and father
Khabib has an older brother called Muhammad Nurmagomedov, however, he didn’t have a career in MMA. Muhammad is 38 years old and has previously been involved in Khabib’s corner team.
Although his brother didn’t compete in the sport, Khabib does have several cousins who are still competing in the UFC and beyond. Umar Nurmagomedov is probably the most well-known of Khabib’s cousins as he competes at the top of the UFC bantamweight division. Usman Nurmagomedov, another one of Khabib’s cousins, competes in Bellator and is currently the lightweight champion.
Khabib’s father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, played a huge part in Khabib’s illustrious career as he coached him from the beginning of his career.
Abdulmanap was the head coach of Eagles MMA.
Khabib height, weight and reach
‘The Eagle’ stands at 5’10” tall, boasting a reach of 70″ and fought his career at 155lbs.
Following his retirement, Khabib has admitted that he weighs 205lbs, as he continues to enjoy his time out of the cage.
Khabib Instagram and X/Twitter accounts
Khabib has a gigantic following on Instagram of 37.3m and you can add to the numbers @khabib_nurmagomedov.
He regularly shares images of what he’s getting up to post-retirement.
Khabib also has an official X, formerly Twitter, account with 2.3m followers @TeamKhabib.
Khabib wife
Khabib Nurmagomedov married his wife in 2013, but her name has never been revealed to the public.
Khabib Nurmagomedov net worth
Nurmagomedov’s net worth is rumored to be $40m, however, this is certainly not believed to be accurate.
Khabib MMA record
| Win-Loss-Draw | (T)KO | Sub |
| 29-0-0 | 8-0 | 11-0 |
Career stats
| Significant Strikes Landed per Minute | 4.10 |
| Significant Striking Accuracy | 49% |
| Significant Strikes Absorbed per Minute | 1.75 |
| Significant Strike Defence (the % of opponents strikes that did not land) | 65% |
| Average Takedowns Landed per 15 minutes | 5.32 |
| Takedown Accuracy | 48% |
| Takedown Defense (the % of opponents TD attempts that did not land) | 85% |
| Average Submissions Attempted per 15 minutes | 0.79 |
Why and when did Khabib retire?
On October 24, 2020, Khabib Nurmagomedov announced his retirement from MMA following an extremely dominant win over Justin Gaethje.
The win marked his 29th in professional MMA, and his first without his late father in his corner.
The then-lightweight champion announced after his fight that he made a promise to his mother, that he wouldn’t continue fighting without his father and therefore, stepped away from competing in the sport.
Nurmagomedov’s retirement came as a shock considering the fact he was in his prime and hadn’t racked up many defenses as champion.
Khabib last fight
Following Justin Gaethje’s interim title win against Tony Ferguson in May 2020, it set up for a huge lightweight title unification bout against ‘The Eagle’.
‘The Highlight’ was given the best chance of the others before him considering his background in wrestling, however, the Dagestani still ragdolled him.
After a relatively close first round, ‘The Eagle’ managed to get to the legs of ‘The Highlight’ and subsequently got the fight to the ground, where he went on to choke Gaethje out with a triangle choke.
What does Khabib do now?
After his retirement from competing in the sport, the 35-year-old did continue as a coach for current lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev, but he has since given up that responsibility.
Khabib does still continue to train with his teammates and help them prepare for their upcoming fights.
Khabib vs Conor McGregor
In 2018, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor finally met inside the UFC Octagon after their rivalry had been brewing for months.
Their feud began when Khabib and his teammates cornered McGregor’s former teammate and friend, Artem Lobov, in a hotel lobby and smacked him.
Nurmagomedov was scheduled to compete at UFC 223 for the lightweight title, in Brooklyn. After catching wind of the incident that took place between Khabib and Lobov, McGregor rounded up a group of friends and travelled halfway across the world to confront the Russian.
‘The Notorious’ infamously attacked the fighter bus following a media day, where Khabib and other competing fighters of UFC 223 were sat. Fortunately, the two didn’t come to blows at that point.
Fast-forwarding six months and Khabib’s first 155lb title defense was set against the Irishman, and after months of hectic and disrespectful build up, they finally got locked in the cage together at UFC 229.
The Russian subsequently made McGregor pay for his pre-fight words and actions, brutalizing him for three rounds before submitting him in the fourth round.
Following his win, Nurmagomedov jumped out of the cage and attacked McGregor’s teammate, Dillon Danis, sparking a huge brawl between the two teams.
Succeeding 2.4m PPV buys, UFC 229 went down as the biggest MMA event of all time, and still holds the record to this day.
Khabib vs Tony Ferguson
Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Tony Ferguson will go down as one of the biggest ‘what ifs’ in MMA history.
The two were first booked to fight each other in December 2015, but a rib injury forced Nurmagomedov out of the bout. They were then rescheduled to fight each other a year later, but this time, injury forced ‘El Cucuy’ out of the bout.
Attempting to make it third time lucky, the UFC rebooked the pair in 2017 but Khabib was hospitalized following weight cut complications.
After McGregor vacated the lightweight title in 2018, Khabib and Ferguson were booked to fight each other for a fourth time, this time for the vacant strap. On the week of the fight, Ferguson tripped over a camera wire whilst partaking in media obligations, tearing ligaments in his knee, rendering him unable to fight.
The UFC tried one final time to finally make a fight between the two lightweight greats in April 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions, the UFC 249 event was canceled.
Jon Jones vs Khabib
Khabib Nurmagomedov and Jon Jones are both considered two of the greatest Mixed Martial Artists ever, and arguments continue to spark on who is the greatest.
Jones has historically cleared out the light heavyweight division during its greatest era and even though he has a disqualification loss on his record, he is still regarded as undefeated.
Khabib on the other hand, retired while at his peak and didn’t accumulate as many title defenses as ‘Bones’.
Nurmagomedov retired as one of the most dominant fighters, ever but the arguments still continue over whether his resume is as impressive as Jones’ and if that allows him to surpass Jones in the GOAT argument.
Khabib vs Makhachev
Another fight we will never see, and will have never seen even if Khabib didn’t prematurely retire is Khabib vs Makhachev.
Because of their brotherly like bond, Makhachev and Khabib would never have squared off inside the Octagon, but that hasn’t stopped the fans from continously wondering who would’ve won if that fight did actually happen?
Khabib is regarded as the more dominant wrestler of the two, however, Makhachev has shown considerably better skills on the feet than Khabib ever did, making for a close contest.
Khabib and Hasbulla
Khabib has struck up a friendship with internet sensation, Hasbulla, and the Russian influencer was even part of Islam Makhachev’s corner for his UFC 267 fight against Dan Hooker.
- Who is Hasbulla? The internet sensation and TikTok star who earned a UFC contract
Khabib hat
The hat synonymous with Khabib is called the Papakha. The Papakha is a headdress worn by men in the Caucasus region, and Khabib began wearing it to represent his roots and heritage.
‘The Eagle’ first decided that he needed something to stand out to the American audience, as he was preparing for his UFC debut back in 2012, according to ESPN.
Prior to boarding his flight to Nashville, Tennessee, Khabib purchased a Papakha from a souvenir store in the airport, in an attempt to stand out to the American UFC fanbase.
The Papakha became a huge part of Khabib’s identity and people began supporting the Russian by donning Papakha’s at his fights.
- NEW FOOTAGE: Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev seen ridiculing Conor McGregor in new UFC 229 full fight footage