It was only after Khabib Nurmagomedov had successfully defended his lightweight gold that the world came to know about the adversities that Khabib had to go through in his training camp in the lead up to UFC 254. Earlier, UFC President Dana White revealed after the fight that Khabib had suffered a fracture.
And now, Khabib’s coach Javier Mendez revealed the details behind the tough camp that Khabib Nurmagomedov had in the lead-up to his much-anticipated showdown against Justin Gaethje.
“When he got here on September 11th, he had mumps and it took him out two weeks of training. He got the mumps the day before his father’s event in Russia. He tried training for a couple of days really light, but then he got really sick and was hospitalized for three days.” Mendez said.
If losing his father just before the most important fight of his career was not enough, Mendez revealed that Khabib got so sick that he was hospitalized for three days. Mendez revealed that Khabib had mumps when he returned from Russia to train in Abu Dhabi. The lightweight champion pushed himself to the brink, and got so sick that he had to be carried to the hospital where he spent three days under intensive care.
“I am going home, man. We are fighting such a great warrior like Justin and we are already starting on a bad foot. And I am like this really su**s, so we start training really light for the first week.” Mendez added that Khabib looked great in his first sparring session. However, he broke his toe in the second leaving him more compromised than he already was in his most important fight.
Coach reveals Khabib Nurmagomedov was hospitalized right before UFC 254
Earlier, Khabib had stated that it was the worst training camp that he has had in his entire career. Needless to say, the absence of his father and then injuries ahead of the fight must have taken a lot out of the lightweight champion. However, Khabib Nurmagomedov triumphed in the face of adversity. He looked spectacular and dominated Justin Gaethje both in striking and on the ground, eventually picking up a submission win in the first minute of the second round to defend the lightweight strap.
“This was the worst camp we’ve ever had in the sense of preparation. Accommodations were the best ever, hospitality was the best ever. But we had so much bad luck.”
Needless to say, when one will look back at what an amazing career that Khabib Nurmagomedov has had, without a reason of doubt he will go down as one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time.
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