{"id":80845,"date":"2025-05-07T03:42:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T03:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/80845\/"},"modified":"2025-05-07T03:42:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T03:42:08","slug":"khabib-nurmagomedov-put-on-a-boxing-clinic-by-making-pre-ufc-rival-quit-with-islam-makhachev-cornering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/80845\/","title":{"rendered":"Khabib Nurmagomedov put on a boxing clinic by making pre-UFC rival quit with Islam Makhachev cornering"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov showcased high-level boxing years before dropping Conor McGregor inside the Octagon.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Khabib Nurmagomedov<\/a> is considered by many as one of the greatest fighters in UFC history after an undefeated 29-0 run inside the cage. He walked away from fighting after a successful lightweight title defense against Justin Gaethje<\/a> at UFC 254.<\/p>\n

Before Nurmagomedov made his UFC debut, he was a talented prospect competing in various regional promotions in Russia, including M-1 and Pro FC. Four fights before signing with the UFC, Nurmagomedov faced another talented prospect in Ashot Shaginyan, and many believed Nurmagomedov would use a wrestling-heavy approach when they fought.<\/p>\n

Nurmagomedov shocked the masses when he took the opposite approach against Shaginyan, with a future UFC pound-for-pound king in his corner at Pro FC 28.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoPhoto by Francois Nel\/Getty ImagesKhabib Nurmagomedov overwhelmed Pro FC rival with a punching barrage years before UFC debut<\/p>\n

Nurmagomedov and Shaginyan wasted no time getting after it inside the square MMA ring, as Nurmagomedov pressed forward with a boxing-heavy gameplan. He pressured Shaginyan against the ropes and bloodied his opponent\u2019s face just seconds into the fight.<\/p>\n

As Shaginyan went for a desperate takedown, Nurmagomedov sprawled beautifully and continued to pressure Shaginyan with nonstop output. Despite numerous attempts to counter Nurmagomedov, Shaginyan had a hard time landing as Nurmagomedov bobbed and weaved through his advances.<\/p>\n

With future UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev<\/a> yelling commands from the corner, Nurmagomedov continued to overwhelm Shaginyan and put him on the edge of quitting. Just two minutes into the fight, Nurmagomedov dropped Shaginyan with a massive right hand that resulted in a delayed knockdown, forcing the referee to step in and stop the fight.<\/p>\n

It was an impressive performance for Nurmagomedov as he showcased a well-rounded skillset inside the cage. It was a message to other lightweights not to focus solely on the future UFC Hall of Famer\u2019s wrestling, as Nurmagomedov gave his future rivals more to think about.<\/p>\n

Years later, Nurmagomedov would stun Conor McGregor<\/a> with a huge punch in their UFC 229 clash. It was one of the few times that McGregor was dropped in his UFC career.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Khabib Nurmagomedov may be standing in the way of the UFC booking two super fights<\/p>\n

Fast forward to 2025, and Nurmagomedov is one of the top coaches in MMA. But as he prepares Makhachev and others for their upcoming fights, he might be the biggest obstacle preventing the UFC from securing a pair of mega-fights.<\/p>\n

As Makhachev plots a potential move to welterweight, Nurmagomedov shut down a potential clash with UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad<\/a>, saying his \u2018heart is not okay\u2019 with the idea of Makhachev and Muhammad fighting each other<\/a>. Makhachev and Muhammad are teammates and close friends who trained under the tutelage of Nurmagomedov and longtime American Kickboxing Academy coach Javier Mendez.<\/p>\n

Muhammad returns this weekend at UFC 315 against Jack Della Maddalena<\/a> and sent Makhachev a defiant message<\/a> about a possible move to welterweight. Makhachev met with UFC CBO Hunter Campbell this week to discuss the lightweight champ\u2019s next bout.<\/p>\n

A top option for Makhachev\u2019s next lightweight title defense is Ilia Topuria<\/a>, but Nurmagomedov is rumored to be preventing the fight<\/a> from coming to fruition. Topuria announced he\u2019s set to fight at UFC 317<\/a> against a to-be-determined opponent, potentially Makhachev or former titleholder Charles Oliveira<\/a>.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov showcased high-level boxing years before dropping Conor McGregor inside the Octagon. Khabib…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,39272,24743,5705,79,5706,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-80845","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-islam-makhachev","10":"tag-khabib-nurmagomedov","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-ufc","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114464485755183178","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}