Following recent claims from former United States President, Donald Trump how former UFC lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov is his favorite all-time fighter – the former fighter’s head coach, Javier Mendez claims he’s “not surprised”.
Nurmagomedov, a former undisputed lightweight gold holder, and inductee into the Hall of Fame of the UFC, called time on his career back in 2020, following an unbeaten 29-0 fight professional career.
Submitting then-interim lightweight champion, Justin Gaethje with a dominant second round triangle choke win, Khabib Nurmagomedov would then call time on his career, despite slews of calls for a comeback to fighting from Dana White and other promotional officials.
And reacting to Trump’s claims that Khabib Nurmagomedov is his favorite fighter of all time, the Russian’s bitter nemesis, Conor McGregor hit out at the duo.
“Campaign ending decision,” Conor McGregor posted. “A smelly fat mountain monkey from the inbred mountains of Dagestan is your favorite UFC (AMERICAN COMPANY) fighter? Wow. Abysmal. I was actually wrong. Couple hundred million he is worth. Not multi B. I would have thought USA ONLY would be the mentality here and what I would want to see out of my President, personally.”
“To pick a retired inbred fighter from Dagestan, Russia who has 3 main events only to his name is astounding,” Conor McGregor continued. “Over all the American fighters that have backed him. It’s a shocking decision. He was caught on the spot. That won’t go unnoticed on the roster. This presidential race is very tight right now. More so now.”
“Trump’s favorite fighter,” Conor McGregor wrote. “Here he is in a tiny tub with his fellow inbred pals in Dagestan. Can you spot him? Where’s Khabib? Find Khabib.”
Javier Mendez “not surprised” by Donald Trump’s admiration for Khabib Nurmagomedov
However, according to Khabib Nurmagomedov’s veteran head coach, Mendez, it’s no surprise to him that his student is the former President’s favorite combat sports athlete ever.
“No I haven’t seen it and I’m not surprised, Donald Trump has always spoken highly about Khabib (Nurmagomedov) and what a great fighter he thinks and also, Donald Trump from the very beginning back when the UFC just started and they would get into the Trump Towers, their hotels and Donald Trump was one of the few people that took a chance on them back in the day,” Mendez told Red Corner MMA. “So, Donald Trump’s an MMA fan so not surprising that he would chose ‘The Eagle’ because we all choose ‘The Eagle’ – I choose ‘The Eagle’.”