Former champion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Khabib Nurmagomedov celebrates his 35th birthday. On the birthday of the main star of domestic MMA in recent years, we are talking about little-known facts that will complement the image of the star birthday boy.
Economist and polyglot
As Khabib’s late father Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov admitted, his son was expelled for bad behavior academic performance from Makhachkala College of Finance and Economics. Lack of knowledge of the English language affected. However, then the fighter set his sights on higher education. The athlete studied in absentia at the Moscow REU named after. G.V. Plekhanov as an economist: he wants to “approach his considerable capital wisely.”
By the way, about languages that failed the champion in his youth. Now Khabib knows six! These are native Avar, Russian and Kumyk. After moving to the USA, the athlete brought his English to an excellent level. Also, Nurmagomedov, who admires those who are constantly developing mentally, knows Turkish and Arabic.
Almost died due to weight cutting
It all happened in March 2017, when a day before the UFC 209 tournament, Orel (the fighter’s nickname — editor’s note) was forced to withdraw from the fight for the interim belt against Tony Ferguson (in total, the “damned confrontation” with the American was broken five times). The athlete was urgently hospitalized due to extreme weight loss. Khabib only had to “burn” a couple of pounds, but his body began to fail — a little more and the Russian’s kidneys would have failed.
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“The doctor said: “You can’t fight, you’re almost dead!” How can you fight if you almost died? No fight, 100 percent. And no rush. You need to stay in the hospital for seven hours, we need to make sure everything is fine with your body.» I felt like I almost died. We know that you can die while cutting weight… A month ago, someone died in Brazil. Before that, someone died in Japan. Sometimes it happens. But this can happen to me too. If I had continued to lose weight, maybe I could have died too,” the MMA News portal quoted Khabib.
By the way, for Nurmagomedov, injuries (he could have retired after rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament) and weight loss became much more serious tests than chopping in a cage. After all, with a natural weight of 85-87 kilograms, he fought in the light weight category up to 70.3 kg.
This is what Khabib’s last weight cut was like in October 2020 before the third title defense against Justin Gaethje:
Crazy about football
Nurmagomedov does not hide the fact that he watches football with much greater interest than MMA events. He is the number one sports fan! Since the 1996 European Championships, Khabib has not missed a single international tournament. He also follows European cups and the main leagues of the continent, attends the most important matches (he was at the finals of the Champions League and World Cup) and the main arenas of the world (he met at Old Trafford with Sir Alex Ferguson and the leaders of Manchester United).
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"Football is better. No need to hit, no need to break anyone. You just go out and show in beauty what a professional athlete you are. This is also a very difficult sport. I like football better than MMA. As long as I follow football, I never get tired of it. “I used to watch all the fights, but now there is no such thing, a decline, so to speak,” Nurmagomedov shared his emotions in an interview with UFC Russia.
As for club preferences, Khabib is a fan of Real Madrid, while the fighter’s father was a fan of Moscow Spartak . The Russian also communicates warmly with world football stars. Among them are Karim Benzema, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo, whom Nurmagomedov calls an inspiration and the best in history.
I wanted to compete for Ukraine
Yes, yes, in 2018 Khabib could become the first UFC champion from Ukraine . As a teenager, Nurmagomedov planned to move to a neighboring state and represent the yellow-blue flag at major competitions.
In Ukraine, Orel made his professional debut in 2008; in total, Khabib fought five fights there. But the main thing here is the family factor. The father of today’s birthday boy studied and served in Ukraine. Two uncles of the athlete live there, Khabib trained there for many years and at first could earn much more money than in Russia. However, it didn’t work out. The visa and registration department (OVIR) rejected the applications of Abdulmanap Magomedovich and the future UFC Hall of Fame member five times without explanation.
Raises three children
Khabib does not advertise his personal life: on his social networks you will not find photographs of his wife Patimat (the wedding of a distant relative he knew from childhood took place in 2013) and heirs. It is only known that the former UFC champion is the father of many children:
- In 2015, she was born daughter Fatima;
- At the end of 2017, the couple’s first son, Magomed, was born;
- In December In 2019, his wife gave Nurmagomedov another son, Hussein.
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"I want to be a strict father, because with my capabilities it will be difficult to limit the children in anything. And they must always be limited at certain points: in time, personal needs… I have always had limitations. My friends had rich fathers, but I didn’t. My father saw things differently and I want to think like him. But it will be hard for me, because he grew up in a different time,” says Khabib about raising children.