Khabib Nurmagomedov retired from the UFC when he was at his peak. Going undefeated in the roster, the Dagestani fighter soon became a legend. However, there was a time when the former UFC champion had a wild encounter with a bear. While the story of Khabib fighting a bear is pretty well known, there was a time when Joe Rogan had a strong word of resentment towards his wild opponent.
In a throwback video from 1997, Nurmagomedov could be seen wrestling a wild bear! The initial reaction from the internet was that the video was fabricated. However, later on, it was found to be 100% authentic. Commenting on the same, UFC color commentator Joe Rogan analyzed the video closely. Interestingly, he found a glaring cheating attempt from the bear.
“Did you ever see the video of him wrestling a bear? It’s f**king hilarious. It’s him wrestling a small brown bear… And the bear’s biting him… that bear’s a total cheater,” Rogan commented in an episode of his JRE podcast from 2018.
“Did you ever see the video of him wrestling a bear? It’s f**king hilarious. It’s him wrestling a small brown bear… And the bear’s biting him… that bear’s a total cheater,” Rogan commented in an episode of his JRE podcast from 2018.
Meanwhile, the Dagestani fighter was tough right from his childhood. And while he had proved his toughness with the bear fight, Nurmagomedov also earned the respect of a UFC legend.
Luke Rockhold Reflects On His Time With Khabib Nurmagomedov
UFC legend Luke Rockhold once had a young Khabib Nurmagomedov as his training partner. Back at the American Kickboxing Academy, Rockhold seemed to be quite impressed with what he saw of the Dagestani. In a recent episode of the ‘JAXXON’ podcast, Rockhold mentioned how focused and gritty Khabib was.
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“He [Khabib Nurmagomedov] was tough, man. He showed up by himself. And I was like, Who the f**k is this guy? He was just tough, you know? Running around, just like… you liked his determination,” said Rockhold.
“He [Khabib Nurmagomedov] was tough, man. He showed up by himself. And I was like, Who the f**k is this guy? He was just tough, you know? Running around, just like… you liked his determination,” said Rockhold.
He also mentioned that after evaluating his potential, Rockhold wanted to bring Nurmagomedov into his program. Thus, with tales of bravery and determination stemming from his early days, Khabib Nurmagomedov remains a bright light in the UFC realm.
