Javier Mendez Calls Khabib Nurmagomedov Injury A ‘Freak Accident’
Khabib Nurmagomedov recently got his name added to the ever-populated list of high profile UFC fighters that are absent due to injuries. For the second time in a year, “The Eagle” was scratched from a fight with Donald Cerrone, this time at UFC 187.
His team at AKA (American Kickboxing Academy) have come under fire from the community, Dana White in particular, who referred to the San Jose, California gym as ‘stone aged”’. In a recent interview with MMAFighting.com, AKA head coach Javier Mendez discusses the Khabib Nurmagomedov injury.
“Well he was sparring and no contact was actually made. He stepped back, and as he stepped back it just went on him. We were trying to work around his (other) surgery, and it just happened. I was told originally that with good rehab he could be back in training in 2-3 months. So I think five months would be good.
I think we need to train ourselves and be careful. If you’re having problems I need to know before you spar, I need to know if you have an injury, even a little injury, because if I put you in to spar and I don’t know you have an injury then you could get hurt bad.”
“The Eagle” will likely be out for 18 months or so by the time he returns, which is a long time in terms of fighting. The belt has changed hands to a heavy underdog since the last time Nurmagomedov fought, and who knows where it’ll be in six months time.
Although Mendez can certainly try to train more carefully, the truth is that it can happen at any time. Combat sports training is intense and the body isn’t designed to take some of the abuses in camp.
Do you think AKA needs to tone it down in training?
