‘These days she doesn’t need anything’: Khabib admits ‘regrets’ as UFC champ reveals his mother’s role in early training sessions

As a decorated coach and athlete, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s father, Abdulmanap, was instrumental in the UFC lightweight champion’s formative years. But the Dagestani star has revealed regret at not taking greater notice of his mother.

It is not difficult to imagine UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov taking heed of parental guidance from his earliest beginnings as a fighter.

Khabib’s father, Abdulmanap, was a decorated army fighter and athlete, using the benefit of his own experience to stoke Nurmagomedov’s fascination with martial arts by hosting student training sessions in the gym he set up in the building where they lived.

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Although Nurmagomedov had been grounded in wrestling, his dad encouraged him to switch to the more judo-inflected combat sambo as a youngster, which he used to shock Conor McGregor in the UFC 229 win that made him a worldwide star in October 2018.

The path to their family home in Makhachkala, though, was not a smooth one for all the family, Nurmagomedov has revealed.

Speaking to a small group of enchanted schoolchildren, the Octagon hero revealed the upheaval his mother felt when the family moved from the village of Sildi to the Dagestani capital, where she would wash his kit by hand in the aftermath of his early experiences in the ring.

“She had to do everything by hand and there was no hot water,” said Nurmagomedov, opening up to a question posed by one of his young admirers.

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“My brother and I trained twice a day in the morning and in the evening. We’d have dirty laundry that she’d have to clean but she didn’t have a washing machine.

“She didn’t give out punishments such as twisting my ear. I listened to dad, though, because I understood that with him I could really get punished.”

Nurmagomedov, who retained his 155lb title by beating Dustin Poirier in September, has spoken warmly since his seismic win over McGregor of the influence his parents have had on his career.

“It’s important that my dad doesn’t see this, but mom is always in first place,” he told his audience in his latest insight into his formative years.

“These days she doesn’t need anything. I didn’t always listen to my mother but I regret that now. Now I listen to mum more than dad.”

Ahead of his defense against Tony Ferguson next year, Nurmagomedov still sounds like a sportsman not enamored by decadence, despite earning around $2 million for his win over McGregor and $6 million for the Poirier victory – a windfall his father publicly said was more reflective of his son’s worth.

“Now we come in, throw the clothes in, press a button and the laundry gets done,” the champion said of his current washing routine.

“Now [my mother] even has a dishwasher – she doesn’t have to wash the dishes. She puts the dishes in the machine, presses a button and that’s it.”