When Khabib Nurmagomedov entered the American Kickboxing Academy, Coach Javier Mendez never imagined how close he would be to the future lightweight UFC champion. Mendez is now the head coach of Team Khabib, where he already has two world champions – Islam Makhachev and Usman Nurmagomedov. The Dagestani fighters always held Mendez in high regard, and he recently received a fantastic gift from one of the Nurmagomedovs.
The 53-year-old coach is now in Dubai, preparing Umar Nurmagomedov for his upcoming main event fight against Cory Sandhagen at UFC Abu Dhabi. Interestingly, ‘Thunder’ received a gift from Abubakr Nurmagomedov, a UFC welterweight and cousin to Khabib, Umar, and Usman. The gift was a custom knife with Mendez’s face engraved on one side and the faces of the UFC champions he trained on the other side.
The knife had two faces of Mendez. One was in his 50s, and the other was in his 20s, holding the ISKA Muay Thai belt. The other side of the knife had the faces of Khabib Nurmagomedov, Islam Makhachev, Daniel Cormier, Usman Nurmagomedov, Daniel Cormier, Luke Rockhold, and Cain Velasquez. When Mendez inquired why he was not in it, Abubakr politely replied that he was not a champion.
Mendez Shares Insights on Training Team Khabib in UAE
After an intense training camp in Dagestan, Team Khabib reached the UAE. Javier Mendez recently joined the team and is delighted to coach his prized pupils. Preluding the training sessions, Mendez spoke on Khabib Nurmagomedov’s YouTube channel.
“Today is the first day working with the team. I work with Amru, the UAE Warriors lightweight champion. I work with Umar who’s going to be the UFC bantamweight champion. And I work with Usman, the Bellator lightweight champion. It was a great workout with all three. I haven’t been with all three of them in a while, and It was a pleasure for me to be there with them,” Mendez said.
The head coach also thanked Coach Magomed, who trained the team in Dagestan. Mendez has high hopes for all his pupils, especially Umar Nurmagomedov. Even the betting odds favor ‘The Young Eagle’ against ‘The Sandman’ despite his lower ranking.
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