Khabib Nurmagomedov: the unbeaten UFC lightweight champion | Ultimate Fighter Reunion

Why fans still care

KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV is the unbeaten champion of the UFC lightweight division. He won all 29 of his professional fights, 13 of them in the UFC, and retired as champion.

His top control is still studied, and his team-mate Islam Makhachev went on to win UFC titles of his own.

Early life

He was born on 20 September 1988 in Sildi, a mountain village in the Tsumadinsky District of Dagestan, then part of the USSR. His father, Abdulmanap, was a Master of Sports in freestyle wrestling, skilled in judo and sambo, an Honoured Coach of Russia and a senior coach of Dagestan’s sambo team. He began training Khabib at the age of eight. His father wanted him to study, but Khabib wanted to be an athlete, and serious training for a professional career began in 2005.

Getting started

He won the world combat sambo title in 2009 and again in 2010, and said the second title made him believe he could reach the top. On 13 September 2008 he made his professional MMA debut with a first-round submission of Vusal Bayramov, and a month later he won three decisions in one night. He went 16-0 in Russia and Ukraine, winning the M-1 Selection Ukraine final in February 2011, before signing with the UFC.

Career chapters

1. 2008Turns professional, at 19
2. 2012UFC debut, a submission of Kamal Shalorus
3. 2013Lands a UFC record 21 takedowns against Abel Trujillo
4. 2016Submits Michael Johnson at the first UFC event in New York
5. 2018Wins the vacant UFC lightweight title, then beats Conor McGregor
6. 2019Unifies the title against Dustin Poirier in Abu Dhabi
7. 2020Beats Justin Gaethje and retires at 29-0
8. 2022Inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame

Into the UFC 2012 to 2014

He made his UFC debut on 20 January 2012 with a third-round rear-naked choke of Kamal Shalorus. He beat Gleison Tibau on a unanimous decision at UFC 148, a fight he called his hardest to that point, then stopped Thiago Tavares in the first round. At UFC 160 in May 2013 he took Abel Trujillo down 21 times from 27 attempts, a UFC record; he was 2.5 lb over the limit for that fight and gave up 20 per cent of his purse. In April 2014 he beat Rafael dos Anjos 30-27 on all three cards.

Injuries and Ferguson 2014 to 2017

He did not fight for two years after the dos Anjos win. His bout with Tony Ferguson, Who’s Who number 45 (story coming soon) was booked five times between 2015 and 2020 and never happened, through injuries on both sides, a weight cut that put Khabib in hospital before UFC 209 in 2017, and travel limits in 2020. In the meantime he stopped Darrell Horcher in 2016, submitted Michael Johnson with a kimura at UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden, and beat Edson Barboza on a unanimous decision in December 2017.

Champion 2018 to 2020

On 7 April 2018 at UFC 223 in Brooklyn, after Ferguson and then Max Holloway, Who’s Who number 3 fell out of the fight, he met the late replacement Al Iaquinta for the vacant lightweight title and won 50-44, 50-43, 50-43. “Give me 30 minutes and I can fight with anybody,” he said. On 6 October 2018 at UFC 229 in Las Vegas he beat Conor McGregor, Who’s Who number 43 (story coming soon) with a neck crank in the fourth round. The event drew just under 2.4 million pay-per-view buys by Dave Meltzer’s estimate. After the finish he went over the cage at McGregor’s team-mate, a brawl followed, and the Nevada commission later suspended and fined both fighters. On 7 September 2019 in Abu Dhabi he unified the title against Dustin Poirier, the interim champion, with a third-round rear-naked choke.

The last fight 2020

His father died on 3 July 2020, aged 57, of COVID-19 complications. On 24 October 2020 at UFC 254 on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi he met the interim champion Justin Gaethje, won the stand-up in the first round, and in the second drove through a takedown to mount and finished with a triangle choke. He knelt and wept in the Octagon, and Gaethje consoled him. In the cage he said this was his last fight, a promise to his mother: “There’s no way I’m going to be back without my father.” Dana White, Who’s Who number 42 (story coming soon) confirmed his retirement in March 2021, and the vacant title went to a fight between Michael Chandler and Charles Oliveira, Who’s Who number 26.

Style, technique and the corner

How he fights

He was a wrestling and sambo-based pressure fighter. “I dominated because of my superior wrestling and grappling,” he said in 2013. UFC.com lists his favourite grappling as freestyle wrestling, double and single legs, and his favourite striking as the Thai clinch, knees and elbows. Daniel Cormier broke down his chain wrestling at UFC 229: a high crotch, a crackdown, an angle change and a pipe-style attempt before the double leg landed. Once on top he controlled with his legs as well as his arms and wore opponents down with ground strikes. He finished 11 fights by submission, including five triangle chokes.

Teams and gyms

His father coached him from childhood. In the UFC he trained at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose under Javier Mendez, alongside Daniel Cormier, and his father and Mendez worked his corner at UFC 242. After retiring he coached at AKA until January 2023, and he owns the promotion Eagle Fighting Championship.

Stories people still tell

1. Sambo to the UFC.

   He said winning the 2010 world sambo title was the moment he believed he could reach the top.

2. Ferguson, five times.

   His fight with Tony Ferguson was booked five times and never happened.

3. The last corner.

   At UFC 330 in August 2026, Islam Makhachev said Khabib was in his corner and told him to win the final round.

Legacy

He retired unbeaten at 29-0, with four lightweight title-fight wins, level with B.J. Penn, Who’s Who number 17 and Benson Henderson, and the longest lightweight reign in UFC history. He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame on 30 June 2022 in Las Vegas. His team-mate and student Islam Makhachev went on to win UFC titles at lightweight and welterweight.