Nurmagomedov has not fought since his lightweight title defense against Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in October 2020.
Khabib Nurmagomedov is enjoying life away from the cage.
The former UFC lightweight champion revealed that he is no longer watching his diet since his official retirement in 2020 and that now weighs more than 200 pounds.
“I weigh 205lb now, maybe 204lb in the morning if I don’t have dessert the night before,” Nurmagomedov said at a Human Appeal charity event in London last week. “When I was an active fighter, I was around 190lb and I cut weight to 155lb. I finished my career, I gained about five kilos, but I can’t do anything with this.”
Nurmagomedov struggled to make weight on several occasions throughout his UFC tenure. He missed weight ahead of his fourth UFC fight against Abel Trujillo at UFC 160 in May 2013, and was hospitalized two hours before his scheduled weigh-in to face Ferguson at UFC 209. The former champ also appeared sickly ahead of weighing in for his lightweight title defense at UFC 254—the final fight of his MMA career.
“It was one of the hardest things in my life to stay away from food, even now. It was hard because for 15 years I was on a diet, maybe more,” Nurmagomedov said. “To make weight, I had to stay on a diet all my life. Being a religious person, we have to stay away from a lot of things. When food comes on the table, sometimes you want to enjoy it. I have to train every day for five hours to get back to 86 kilo, or I can live a happy life. I’m going to be happy and drink Pepsi.”
While Nurmagomedov plans to enjoy life as an entrepreneur, coach, and fight promoter, he revealed that he is still training regularly to remain in shape, though not with the intensity of fight camps.
“I train maybe one hour a day, but before when I was active, I was training at least four hours everyday.”