It’s safe to say there will never be another Khabib Nurmagomedov in the MMA world. The Dagestani fighter’s dominance inside the octagon is unparalleled. He officially retired in 2021 with notable victories over former Champions including the likes of Rafael dos Anjos, Dustin Poirier, and Conor McGregor.
Nurmagomedov’s credentials inside the octagon are world-renowned. His dominance inside the octagon can be measured by the fact that he stayed undefeated in 28 outings. Khabib’s professional life is well-known to the world, however, little is known about his personal life.
His relationship with his father and coach late Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov is known by many but we have only rarely seen Khabib talking about his family, his wife, and his children.
In 2020, Khabib announced that he would serve as the global ambassador for a new MMA promotion, MMA Global. He stated that he wanted to contribute to society, and was looking to give employment to people in excess of 250 with his new projects and ventures.
Khabib’s training videos with Daniel Cormier and his occasional outing with fellow Dagestani fighters and other UFC stars are available online, however, there’s not much known about his life outside of the MMA world.
Khabib Nurmagomedov’s personal life
Khabib Nurmagomedov likes to lead a private life and doesn’t like to flaunt his riches or his exuberant lifestyle on social media. Despite a reported net worth of excess of $40 million, Khabib remains humble. There’s only little one can figure out from his social media about his financial success.
Talking about why he doesn’t like to bring out his personal life on social media for the world to know, Khabib said.
“Because you know I want to protect my family from the media. Sometimes the media is good, but sometimes the media is crazy. You cannot be very good at all the time with the media. I don’t want people to watch on my kids, family all the time.
“I am tired of all this, that’s why I want to protect my family from social media, I don’t want to post like everything about my daughter, my wife, I want to protect from this, my father knows, my mother, know, my brother, know, my best-friends know, and I think my grandfather knows too.”
It’s hard not to agree with Khabib. With fame comes a lot of inclusion in private life, and Khabib’s decision to keep his personal life separate and not put his wife and kids out there on social media seems quite justified.
Khabib Nurmagomedov childhood
Born to a small village called Sildi in Tsumadinsky, Dagestan in Russia, Khabib started training at an early age. With videos of a young Khabib training with a bear, Khabib’s father Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov turned his ground floor into a training gym after they moved to Kirovaul. Nurmagomedov also trained in judo and combat sambo from an early age.
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Speaking to a Russian daily, Khabib talked about his childhood. The former UFC Lightweight Champion of the world grew up with his several siblings and cousins and lived in the same place.
He revealed that every morning Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov would force him and his brothers to train. Khabib started learning early, and with his father as his trainer, he would go on to scale the heights of MMA.
Khabib, like many Dagestani fighters, started training at a very young age. He used to be involved in street fights and brawls growing up. Nurmagomedov maintains that he has lived a tough life and has often criticized American fighters for bringing up street fighting during the trash-talk leading to a fight inside the UFC octagon.
Khabib Nurmagomedov’s marriage
Khabib Nurmagomedov got married in Makhachkala in Russia where Khabib’s family later moved and settled. Makhachkala is the capital of Dagestan, Russia. He is married to Patimat Nurmagomedova who is apparently a distant relative of Khabib
According to Khabib’s father, the wedding ceremony hosted more than 4000 people with visitors congratulating the Nurmagomedov family throughout the day of the marriage. It is believed that the wedding venue had a total capacity of 1200 visitors and they had to switch the ceremony three times. According to a news outlet, the cost of the wedding was paid by family friends and it was reported to be 700,000 rubles or roughly $10,000.
At the time of his death, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov had married two women, and it is common in Khabib’s family to have two wives with most of his family members having their second marriage during their 50s and 60s. Khabib’s grandfather also had two wives.
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Patimat Nurmagomedova: Khabib Nurmagomedov’s wife
Patimat Nurmagomedova was born in Sildi, the same village where Khabib was born and raised. Both Khabib and Patimat were friends growing up. Patimat and Khabib attended the same school for one year and Khabib allegedly fell in love. Khabib would part from Patimat after moving to Makhachkala to become one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time.
In an interview given to the Russian outlet Sports Express, Khabib’s father Abdulamanap revealed that Patimat is a distant relative of Khabib and she did not get the name Nurmagomedova after the marriage.
Not much is known about Patimat Nurmagomedova. There are no photos, and Khabib continues to remain private about his family life. In the past, several women including Olga Buzov, a popular Russian pop artist and TV host, have been linked to being Khabib’s wife.
There are only a few photos of Khabib with his wife Patimat. There is one photo of Patimat with a covered face in what appears to be a wedding ceremony.
It is believed that after moving to Dagestan, at the age of 22, Nurmagomedov came to a decision and sent his parents to talk to Patimat about the marriage. As fate would have it, Patimat was chosen and the couple got married in 2013 in their hometown of Dagestan. Nurmagomedov has stated multiple times in the past that he wishes to keep his personal life separate and away from the media.
Earlier, Khabib’s father stated that to pay respect to his religion, each of the members of the Nurmagomedov family has had multiple marriages. It could be possible that Khabib could marry once again at some point in the future.
Khabib Nurmagomedov and his love for kids
Khabib Nurmagomedov never talks about his kids. A private man, Khabib has three children. A girl who was born on June 1, 2015, and a boy who was born on December 30, 2017. His third kid who was born on December 22, 2019.
The daughter’s name is Fatima Nurmagomedova, while the first boy is named after Khabib’s great-grandfather Magomed Nurmagomedov. His third child is named Husayn. Talking about whether or not he wants his son to follow his footsteps into the world of mixed martial arts, Khabib said:
“I don’t want him to go through all that I went. Because in professional sports most people don’t see what is inside. They only see a picture and videotapes which are like 40 minutes. They will see my walkout and my fight. but they don’t see 25 years of work I went through or how many surgeries I had on my knee, back, and ribs. How 1.5-2 years ago nearly died while weight cut. people don’t see it all.”
In the past, Khabib decided to pull out of his much-anticipated showdown against Tony Ferguson at UFC 249 citing health precautions for his family and kids. Khabib is an ambassador of the sport and continues to interact with the young generation through various mediums.
In the videos that have surfaced on the internet, Khabib Nurmagomedov looks effortlessly comfortable with kids as we get to see a more jovial side of one of the most dominant fighters in the history of UFC.
Khabib Nurmagomedov and his relationship with his mother
Khabib Nurmagomedov has always stated that he is closer to his mother than his father. He has often stated in media interviews that he is a mother’s child.
Khabib dedicated his hard-fought victory over Gleison Tibau to his mother in the post-fight interview and was also quoted saying that he likes his mom more than his dad.
“We are constantly talking about father, father, coach, father, coach. Of course, the father is the person I followed all my way. He was constantly near and helped with everything. But I am talking in Russian and I think I need to tell mom. I’ll tell my mom, I love my mom more than my dad,” Khabib said.
After his spectacular win over Justin Gaethje at UFC 254, Nurmagomedov decided to rest his gloves. Nurmagoemedov stated that he is honoring his words to his mother, who did not want his son to step inside the Octagon without his father on his side.
“I talk with my mother for three days, she doesn’t want that I go fight without my father. I promised her, it’s going to be my last fight, and if I give my word, I have to follow this. It was my last fight here,” Khabib said in the post-fight interview.
Khabib Nurmagomedov’s brothers
Khabib Nurmagomedov has several cousins competing inside the UFC octagon and various other MMA promotions. Abubakar Nurmagomedov made his UFC debut several years back, with his cousin Umar Nurmagomedov continuing to remain undefeated inside the UFC octagon.
Khabib’s distant cousin Zubaira Tukhugov also competes in the UFC. Additionally, Khabib’s brother Magomed Nurmagomedov is yet to make his UFC debut. Khabib also shares a close relationship with UFC Lightweight champion Islam Makachev and has cornered multiple Dagestani fighters during their fight.
Khabib Nurmagomedov’s sister
Nurmagomedov is the middle kid, and along with an elder brother Magomed Nurmagomedov, has a younger sister Amina Nurmagomedov. While Khabib has mentioned his brother in the past, owing to his background in MMA, he has never spoken about his sister.
Khabib Nurmagomedov’s father
Khabib Nurmagomedov shared a close relationship with his father Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov. Khabib’s father’s untimely death in 2020 due to a serious ailment which aggravated due to the coronavirus came in the wake of Khabib’s 29th pro-MMA fight against Justin Gaethje at UFC 254.
Abdulmanap was a senior coach for the combat sambo national team for the Republic of Dagestan. He trained multiple fighters in the capital of Dagestan and Khabib also began his MMA training there.
Abdulamanap’s contribution to the sport of MMA will remain unparalleled. His greatest gift to the sport in the form of his son will be remembered for a lifetime.
“Father, I will miss you. You were my father, friend, brother, and coach in one. You taught me practically everything I know. I hope you were pleased with me,” Khabib Nurmagomedov wrote.” Khabib had said in a post dedicated to his later father Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov.
Khabib and Abdulmanap’s relationship goes beyond a father and a son. It scales the heights of the best student-coach relationship in the history of the sport. A judoka himself, Abdulmanap trained Khabib until his last breath. He groomed the most accomplished and dominant fighter the history.
“Thank you for these guys, these guys with me, been with my father for more than 10 years. All my team, AKA with coach Javier, I love him so much, all my team. Today, I want to say, this was my last fight. No way am I going to come here without my father.” Khabib said.
Soon after his emphatic win over Justin Gaethje at UFC 254, Nurmagomedov announced his retirement from the sport. In an emotional retirement speech, Nurmagomedov credited his father for everything he has achieved inside the Octagon. He rested his gloves, vowing to never return again without his father on his side.