Ahead of his fight against Raoni Barcelos at UFC Vegas 67, Umar Nurmagomedov has explained why his cousin Khabib Nurmagomedov decided to step away from MMA.
Following his decision to retire from competing in 2020, the former lightweight champion immediately went into coaching his fighters full-time. His students, the likes of Islam Makhachev and Umar, have experienced serious success under his stewardship.
But, it took many people by surprise when the 34-year-old revealed he was going to be leaving the sport forever. His cousin has opened up on the decision.
Uma Nurmagodov Reveals Reasons Behind Khabib’s Decision
Speaking to TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter, Umar said: “I’m not surprised, we knew and we talked about this.
“We talked, he gave me advice on the fight, cut weight.
“Everything the same he just stopped, too many flights… I think it will be the same, we will be training together in Dagestan.
“Nothing changes we [are] brothers, he will not travel too much and will take care of himself, his family, his mother.
“This is very hard, traveling too much, cornering everybody, this is not easy.
“That is why he made the decision and I’m happy for him… I don’t think he can stop, he will still control me and my brother, some other guys, but not the same [way].
“He doesn’t want to travel, doesn’t want to come to camps and stay with us for a couple of months.”
Umar Nurmagomedov, on the other hand, will be back in action this weekend when he takes on Raoni Barcelos at the first UFC event of 2023.
He is currently 15-0 as a professional and looks to be surging through the 135 lb division at a rapid rate.
3-0 inside the UFC, the former GFC bantamweight champion is coming off of a decision win over Nate Maness, before that he submitted both Sergey Morozov and Brian Kelleher.
What are your thoughts on Khabib Nurmagomedov leaving the sport?
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
