Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov returned to cornering fighters last year following a brief break, but it seems he’s already wanting to give up coaching in its entirety.
Khabib is set for a busy week in Los Angeles, where two of his team’s most prominent fighters will take up headline spots for the UFC 311 pay-per-view on Jan. 18.
Before 155-pound kingpin Islam Makhachev defends his crown in the main event, “The Eagle’s” cousin, Umar Nurmagomedov, will challenge for Merab Dvalishvili’s bantamweight throne in the co-headliner.
The retired legend will be cageside calling the shots for both — a position he took up following his retirement from active competition in 2020. But it doesn’t seem like he plans on staying there longer than necessary.
During a recent interview uploaded to ESPN MMA’s YouTube channel, Khabib discussed how long he plans to be in the coaching game for, revealing that he doesn’t intend on occupying the role beyond the careers of his current crop of fighters.
“When the guys finish, I’m going to finish,” Khabib said. “I hope it’s going to be very fast, I’m tired of all this. We’ve been on top of this game for like, seven, eight years, since I became a champion. All these guys were with me, they were with my father when I was starting.
“There are still six, eight (fighters competing) at a very high level. When they finish, I will finish too,” Khabib added.
The immediate lead-up to UFC 311 didn’t get off to the smoothest of starts for Khabib, who was the subject of a viral video that showed him being removed from a plane ahead of a flight from Los Vegas to California this past weekend.
While “The Eagle” eventually boarded a different flight and made his way to the state, the fallout from the incident has continued this week, with Frontier Airlines most recently releasing a statement in defense of the flight attendant who had the exchange with the former UFC fighter.