Khabib Nurmagomedov considered retiring years before he became UFC champion.
Nurmagomedov’s career was riddled with injuries early on, which kept him out of action for more than two years from 2014 to 2016. It was a frustrating time for undefeated Nurmagomedov (29-0 MMA, 13-0 UFC) to have to watch the lightweight division move on without him.
In fact, it was so frustrating that Nurmagomedov started questioning if it was God’s plan for himto walk away. However, Nurmagomedov’s father, Abdulmanap, made sure that didn’t happen.
“It was hardest time in my career, like professional career, because I remember when I dominated Rafael dos Anjos (and) after that I broke my leg. I had ACL surgery,” Nurmagomedov said on the “Inspire Me Podcast.” “After that, dos Anjos became champion, and I tried to come back. I tore one more time ACL and one more surgery. I tried to come back. I broke my ribs.
“After that I tried to comeback. I had surgery on my back. It was a very hard time, and I remember I was talking with my father, ‘Maybe this is a signal from God you have to stop.’ He told me, ‘You cannot give up. When you have some test you have to show your toughness if you’re tough. If you’re not tough you just can give up, and that’s it.'”
Abdulmanap showed his son tough love. The legendary coach was going to reach his goal no matter what and left the decision to Nurmagomedov on whether or not he will be a part of his story.
“I remember he told me, ‘If you want to go, you have to go,'” Nurmagomedov said. “‘If not, anyways, I’m going to have a UFC champion. With you or without you, I’m going to make someone a UFC champion.’ This gave me like crazy energy. Like if my father wants, who has to do this if I’m not? And this gave me crazy energy. I just keep going, keep going. I just come back and after that, what happened? This is all history.”
Nurmagomedov took his father’s advice and returned in 2016 with vengeance. He captured the UFC lightweight title in 2018 and defended it three times with finishes of Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier, and Justin Gaethje before retiring in October 2020.
