Khabib Nurmagomedov gave an expensive present to Shara Magomedov when the pair finally met in Dubai last year.
The middleweight star is a new generation of UFC fighter from Dagestan, but doesn’t carry the same grappling style as team Nurmagomedov. Instead, he is known as a kickboxer with more of a striking base, and with it a more fan-friendly style.
He once tried to train at Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov’s famous gym, but was unable to come back after being told his hair was too long. But he and Khabib are now friendly after meeting in the Middle East at a business conference.
- Who is Khabib Nurmagomedov? Inside the life of the most dominant UFC fighter of all time
Khabib Nurmagomedov gave expensive gift to Shara Magomedov upon first meeting
Last year, while attending a business conference in Dubai, Shara Magomedov was given the chance to watch Khabib Nurmagomedov give a speech about his father’s gym. He was fascinated by what he heard, and was later allowed backstage to meet with the legendary lightweight champion.
“There was a big business forum in Dubai,” he told Russian media this week in a video which Bloody Elbow has attempted to translate. “I was there in the audience and it was mostly Russian speaking but there were headphones [for instant translation] because it was in English.
“Khabib was also on this forum and when it was his day for performance I came and listened to their story. It was very interesting story about how how his father sold his cows and with the money he built the gym and equipped it.
“This is where their story began and you can see what it led to and this is a big story. Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov would sometimes say things and you’d think on the surface it’s a trifle but then you look into the depths of what it is and today we see what he taught.
“The meeting was great and Khabib was very nice. He was exactly what I expected and I didn’t want to take up a lot of his time. There was even a moment when I saw taht he was being distracted here and there and he had other meetings planned.
“So we had already talked and I was thinking about leaving but he said ‘wait, don’t go, sit there and we’ll talk.’ He gave me a watch. and I was very pleased with such a gift no matter what it was but in fact it was an expensive gift. It’s very nice to get that kind of attention.”
Shara Magomedov was booted from Abdulmanap Nuragomedov’s gym over haircut
Magomedov never trained with the Nurmagomedov team, which includes Khabib as well as UFC champion Islam Makhachev, PFL 2024 winner Gadzhi Rabadanov and Bellator champion Usman Nurmagomedov.
However, he did one time visit their gym, but was unable to get a chance to train more as he refused to cut his hair. “He said three things that are important for an athlete,” Magomedov said of the late Abdulmanap.
“This is a hairstyle, the second is not to walk at night because there is no chance at night and the third is discipline to come to training on time. The first one, I always had a long haircut and in my childhood, youth, school time I heard about the gym.
“The problem was that to sign up there you had to have the haircut. There was one time I went there when Khabib was young and he actually wasn’t training that day so I trained. I left and the problem was that Abdulmanap said ‘you need a short bald hairstyle’.
“Then, I didn’t understand the meaning of it – it seems that it may not interfere in principle. Yes, well if you take it from the outside why do you grow it? You want to look beautiful for girls, and for a fighter it shouldn’t be there.
“An athlete should focus on their own training and then the girls will come when you’re getting high titles at five levels and you won’t have a single hair on your head.”
- Who is Islam Makhachev? Step inside the life of the pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet