Khabib Nurmagomedov set to finish training Islam Makhachev for UFC 294 title fight: ‘He’s gonna be here’
Despite taking a distinct step away from the coaching side of the sport in the last year, former undisputed lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov is set to be on site in the remaining two week of teammate, Islam Makhachev’s training camp – to help prepare the current champion for his rematch title defense against Charles Oliveira at UFC 294 next weekend.
Nurmagomedov, a former undisputed lightweight champion himself and staple at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California, guided training partner and close friend, Makhachev to the vacant lightweight throne back in October of last year, with the latter submitting former champion, Oliviera with a second round arm-triangle submission in.
However, electing against travelling with Makhachev for his February title defense against Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284 back in February, Nurmagomedov had taken a further step back from the sport he himself had retired from back in 2020.
Khabib Nurmagomedov set to train Islam Makhachev for UFC 294 title fight
And yet to make a return to corner work for Makhachev ahead of UFC 294 next weekend against Sao Paulo finishing ace, Oliveira, Nurmagomedov has been confirmed as travelling to the Middle East to help Makhachev put the finishing touches on his training camp.
“He (Khabib Nurmagomedov) will come tomorrow, train with us in the camp,” Islam Makhachev told ESPN MMA during a recent interview ahead of UFC 294. “He’s not going to be my corner coach, but he will be here to help… we come here, like 40 guys, the whole team. I don’t know fight day where he’s going to be, but next two weeks, he’s gonna be here.”
“I miss the time when we were training together, when he (Khabib Nurmagomedov) had fight, when I had fight,” Islam Makhachev explained. “But when he become coach like two years, one year ago, he pressure us very hard, you know? We did drills, almost ten rounds sparring. And after all this work, after one and a half hours, he says, ‘Okay, now five rounds grappling.’”
