Khabib Nurmagomedov reaffirms he has no plans to return to the Octagon and according to him, even if he wanted to, it wouldn’t be that simple.
It’s been nearly five years since Nurmagomedov last competed, closing out a legendary 29-0 career after submitting Justin Gaethje at UFC 254. The undefeated champion walked away from the sport after promising his mother he would retire following the passing of his father and coach, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov.
Now, Nurmagomedov remains a central figure in MMA as he coaches MMA stars like Usman Nurmagomedov, Islam Makhachev and others but fans continue to speculate about a potential comeback. In a recent interview on the Hustle Show, “The Eagle” explained why the door is firmly shut on a return to action.
“You can’t just say, ‘Give me six months, I’ll be ready,’” Nurmagomedov said. “No. To get into fight shape, to get back to your old form, you need a lot of time. But back when I was still fighting, before I retired, I trained regularly too and that was enough for me. It worked. If I was given a fight, boom, in 100 days I’d shut everything off. Completely. No traveling, no meetings, no business contracts. I didn’t touch anything. I told them, ‘Don’t bother me.’ I trained morning and night, morning and night, morning and night, resting only Sundays.”
“If I missed even one of those two-a-day sessions, like I said earlier, I’d get a panic attack, because I knew I had to fight and it felt out of control. Like I wasn’t ready. Like that cage door was about to shut on me.”
The mindset that helped Nurmagomedov dominate MMA came at a cost. His focus was extreme, every fight camp was a full shutdown of all distractions. That level of dedication, he said, can’t be turned on and off casually, especially with age.
“You mean fighting shape?” he said. “No, two to three months wouldn’t be enough. … I’ll be 37 in two months, in September. If we’re talking purely hypothetically, right? If we’re being honest, it would take at least six months. Because when you’re getting in shape sometimes people make this mistake, here’s what happens, you look at this: ‘This fighter’s in good shape ahead of the fight.’ But that doesn’t mean anything. How he looks means nothing.”
“What matters most is how many sparring rounds he’s done and who he sparred with. Everything else, lifting, fitness, running, it means nothing. Our sport isn’t about running, bodybuilding, fitness, CrossFit, none of that. Our sport is you step in one on one, get in your stance, and you fight.”
Since his retirement, Nurmagomedov has stayed connected to the game by coaching some of the top names in the sport. He’s been instrumental in the careers of Islam Makhachev and PFL lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov. While he still wrestles and grapples often, he hasn’t worn gloves or sparred seriously since his final fight.
“Back to your question, after my last fight, I sparred a couple of times,” he said. “Maybe. … Honestly, we don’t really do light sparring. You go in, like, ‘We’ll go easy,’ and one hit, boom, that’s it. It’s on. And to be honest, I haven’t put on gloves in five years. But I wrestle. I’m constantly wrestling. Wherever I am, I always look for someone, even when I’m traveling or whatever, I find someone to grapple with. Someone I can roll with. … So yeah, someone might think, ‘Three months is enough.’ But it’s not.”
In his prime, Nurmagomedov was a machine. From the epic battle with Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier to Rafael dos Anjos and Gaethje, he beat every major name placed in front of him. However, it wasn’t just skill that made him special, it was the obsessive preparation and mental sharpness he demanded of himself.
Today, he channels that same energy into his coaching. With Makhachev preparing for a massive welterweight title showdown against Jack Della Maddalena, Nurmagomedov remains a powerful voice in MM but strictly from outside the cage.
As far as comebacks go, Nurmagomedov made it clear, the gloves are off for good.
