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Javier Mendez Describes Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Evolution As A Coach: ‘He Even Demonstrates Striking Techniques To Perfection’

The biggest fight of Umar Nurmagomedov’s career goes down this weekend and he will have his family right beside him for it. He faces Cory Sandhagen in the main event in Abu Dhabi, where the former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov will be in his corner. After achieving great success as a coach after his […]

Continue Reading Javier Mendez Describes Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Evolution As A Coach: ‘He Even Demonstrates Striking Techniques To Perfection’ at MMA News.

The biggest fight of Umar Nurmagomedov’s career goes down this weekend and he will have his family right beside him for it.

He faces Cory Sandhagen in the main event in Abu Dhabi, where the former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov will be in his corner.

After achieving great success as a coach after his retirement, “The Eagle” decided to take a step back for a while before returning to corner Islam Makhachev at UFC 302.

He’s now agreed with AKA head coach Javier Mendez that he will corner certain fighters including Makhachev and his own cousins, in undefeated bantamweight contender Umar and the Bellator lightweight champion Usman.

Mendez spoke on fight week about how despite Khabib having some areas to improve as a corner, his ability as a coach is already top notch.

Javier Mendez Says Khabib Nurmagomedov Even Coaches Striking Perfectly

In a recent interview with Helen Yee Sports, Mendez spoke about what it’s like to have coach Khabib back working with him in the corner.

He said that Nurmagomedov, in many ways, has taken up his late father’s mantle in being a figure for all the other fighters in the gym to follow and listen to.

“Khabib is more the leader, he runs everything just like his father did and I come in and I do my little bits here and there. For the most part, I do what I’ve been always doing. I come in and I do my thing and Khabib, in all honesty, has always been coaching these guys even when he was fighting.

“so the only difference this time around for Umar is now he gets to have the great one in his corner also so having him in the corner with me is fantastic. My only thing when he corners is he’s going to go crazy.”

Whilst having Nurmagomedov in the corner is obviously a massive asset, Mendez did say that he has had to give his former student some words of advice in regards to keeping his composure whilst being in the corner.

He said that this is his only real feedback though as the former champion has got all other bases covered, including his ability to teach striking.

“Those are little tiny things that I give him, little things like that, everything else he has. His instruction is great, I mean he even demonstrates the striking techniques to perfection now. He knows. Khabib knows.”

Continue Reading Javier Mendez Describes Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Evolution As A Coach: ‘He Even Demonstrates Striking Techniques To Perfection’ at MMA News.

Video – Khabib Nurmagomedov and team surprise coach Javier Mendez with a gift commemorating his legacy

Video - Khabib Nurmagomedov and team surprise coach Javier Mendez with gift to commemorate his legacy Abubakar Nurmagomedov, the cousin of Octagon icon Khabib Nurmagomedov, gifted his coach Javier Mendez a well-thought-out piece of memorabilia…

Abubakar Nurmagomedov, the cousin of Octagon icon Khabib Nurmagomedov, gifted his coach Javier Mendez a well-thought-out piece of memorabilia to commemorate the legendary trainer’s success as both a fighter and a developer of world champions.

Abubakar, who has competed under both the PFL and UFC banners, recently presented Mendez with an engraved knife that was meant to pay tribute to Mendez’s successful combat sports career as well as his role in shaping some of the fight game’s biggest stars over the years.

Today I have a gift. I wouldn’t say it’s ‘Wow’ but I think he will like it. It’s a knife with Javier’s face, our coach, engraved on it. Abubakar Nurmagomedov said in a video on Khabib’s YouTube channel, which you can watch below.

Khabib’s Team Pays Tribue to Javier Mendez’s status as a legendary fighter and trainer

The knife itself had an image of Mendez engraved on it along with the ISKA world champion belt he won in the early 90s.

Nurmagomedov also had Mendez’s many champions engraved on it including Daniel Cormier, Cain Velasquez, and Luke Rockhold.

After his own illustrious career in combat sports came to a close, Mendez began his journey as a trainer, coaching a slew of superstars to fame, fortune, and world titles. Aside from the names mentioned above, Mendez has also worked with the likes of Frank Shamrock, BJ Penn, Cung Le, Josh Thomson, Islam Makhachev, and Usman Nurmagomedov.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Javier Mendez (@akajav)

Video – Khabib Nurmagomedov and team surprise coach Javier Mendez with a gift commemorating his legacy

Abubakar Nurmagomedov, the cousin of Octagon icon Khabib Nurmagomedov, gifted his coach Javier Mendez a well-thought-out piece of memorabilia…

Today I have a gift. I wouldn’t say it’s ‘Wow’ but I think he will like it. It’s a knife with Javier’s face, our coach, engraved on it. Abubakar Nurmagomedov said in a video on Khabib’s YouTube channel, which you can watch below.

Khabib’s Team Pays Tribue to Javier Mendez’s status as a legendary fighter and trainer

The knife itself had an image of Mendez engraved on it along with the ISKA world champion belt he won in the early 90s.

Nurmagomedov also had Mendez’s many champions engraved on it including Daniel Cormier, Cain Velasquez, and Luke Rockhold.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Javier Mendez (@akajav)

Khabib Nurmagomedov is a great coach, but he ‘needs some work’ on becoming a cornerman after UFC 302

Khabib Nurmagomedov is widely considered to be one of the greatest mixed martial artists in the history of the…

Khabib Nurmagomedov is widely considered to be one of the greatest mixed martial artists in the history of the sport—but his skills as a cornerman could use some work.

‘The Eagle’ returned to Islam Makhachev’s corner at UFC 302, overseeing the Dagestani’s third successful defense of the lightweight world title via a fifth-round submission victory over division fan favorite Dustin Poirier. It marked the first time that Nurmagomedov was in his protege’s corner since he claimed the 155-pound crown against Charles Oliveira in October 2022.

Khabib Nurmagomedov, Javier Mendez, Islam Makhachev

Working the corner with Nurmagomedov was renowned MMA coach and American Kickboxing Academy founder Javier Mendez, who helped coach both ‘The Eagle’ and Makhachev to the top of the lightweight division. Speaking with The Schmo following the events of UFC 302, Mendez revealed that while Nurmagomedov is a great game planner, he needs a bit more fine-tuning when it comes to cornering a fighter.

“Khabib’s actually becoming a great coach and a great cornerman – [but] he needs some work on the cornering,” Mendez said. “He’s great at game planning, he’s fantastic at game planning but we need to work a little bit on the cornering – just a little bit” (h/t Bloody Elbow).

Mendez was able to expand on his comments during a follow-up interview with Helen Yee, revealing that Nurmagomedov’s biggest obstacle is his own excitement in the heat of the moment.

“He needs to master the corner though… We still need to work the corner because he goes a little crazy on there, up and down, slamming on the table – [I told him] ‘Calm down, calm down’. He gets really amped up,” Mendez added. “I mean he loves his fighters so much [as] his brothers that you know, he puts everything into that fight when he goes, I forgot what it was like to have him in the corner; it’s kind of crazy.”

Mendez Offered Khabib Nurmagomedov some advice on how to improve his corner work

Having coached a slew of MMA world champions, including Daniel Cormier, Cain Velasquez, Luke Rockhold, and Usman Nurmagomedov, ‘The Eagle’ would be wise to listen to any advice that Mendez has for him.

“I gave him instructions on ‘Hey, it’s okay to do what you need to do but just sit down, yell as loud as you can to get your fighters’ attention, you don’t have to hit the table, stand up and cause the commission to tell us to sit down,’ Mendez said.

“Scream as loud as you can – he goes ‘Coach, how am I going to reach him’, I go ‘Scream, scream as loud as you can’ but you’ve got to say things within reason because you got to listen the crowd, if the crowd’s screaming [too] then your fighter is going to hear nothing.”

With Makhachev’s win over Poirier, the ‘Dagestani Destroyer’ will likely find himself squaring off with No. 1 ranked contender Arman Tsarukyan. No official announcements have been made, but ‘Ahalkalakets’ believes their long-awaited rematch will go down this October in Abu Dhabi or in November when the UFC heads back to the world’s most famous arena—Madison Square Garden.

Justin Gaethje ruled from future Islam Makhachev fight after UFC 300 loss: ‘He was the biggest threat to us’

Following his spectacular defeat to Max Holloway at UFC 300 earlier this month, any chances that Justin Gaethje will…

Following his spectacular defeat to Max Holloway at UFC 300 earlier this month, any chances that Justin Gaethje will fight Islam Makhachev for the lightweight crown in the future have been axed by head coach, Javier Mendez, who admitted the former was likely the biggest “threat” to the Russian’s title reign.

Gaethje, a former interim lightweight champion, featured as the first of three ‘championship’ fights at UFC 300 earlier this month, taking on former featherweight kingpin, Holloway in the pair’s symbolic BMF title fight.

Max Holloway shows off dama — Mandatory Credit: Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

And en route to a comfortable decision loss to the Hawaiian, Gaethje was flattened with a single second remaining in the fifth round of their UFC 300 clash, resulting in a harrowing buzzer-beating knockout defeat.

Islam Makhachev calls for division move after UFC 302 I've already beat everyone at lightweight — Mandatory Credit: Giuseppe Cacece

As for Makhachev, the current pound-for-pound number one fighter on the promotion’s books, is slated to headline UFC 302 in June in New Jersey, taking on soon-to-be common-foe, Dustin Poirier in an undisputed lightweight title fight.

Justin Gaethje ruled from title fight with Islam Makhachev

And off the back of his defeat, Gaethje – who plans an extended break away from active competition, has been ruled from a fight with Makhachev in the future, by the Russian’s head coach – who admitted the Arizona native was likely going to pose the biggest difficulty to the reign of the American Kickboxing Academy product.

Justin Gaethje claims he's not done after UFC 300 loss to Max Holloway I will fight in the future

“Yeah to me, the guy – out of all the guys that I thought was stylistically very dangerous, out of all of them, I thought it was Justin Gaethje,” Javier Mendez said on his podcast. “Stylistically, because of his wrestling pedigree, you know. And his striking is really good, [he’s] strong.”

“It’s all apples and oranges, right,” Mendez explained. “Everybody brings a different skillset, so I thought he was the biggest threat for us. And now, he’s probably never going to be in the picture for us, going forward. No need to talk about him as a threat because he’s never going to be there anymore, I don’t think.”

Who would have won in a lightweight title fight: Islam Makhachev or Justin Gaethje?

Khabib Nurmagomedov labelled most ‘Dangerous’ UFC fighter ever: ‘Nobody is more dangerous than him’

Former undisputed lightweight champion and Hall of Fame inductee, Khabib Nurmagomedov has been branded as the most “dangerous” fighter…

Former undisputed lightweight champion and Hall of Fame inductee, Khabib Nurmagomedov has been branded as the most “dangerous” fighter to ever step inside the Octagon by head coach, Javier Mendez, who squashed claims from Daniel Cormier that teammate, Islam Makhachev was likely more skilful than the ex-gold holder.

Nurmagomedov, a former undisputed lightweight champion and unbeaten fighter during his illustrious mixed martial arts career, has been retired from active competition for the previous four years, most recently defeating Justin Gaethje.

Khabib Nurmagomedov rules himself out of stunning comeback at UFC 300 it will be without me — Mandatory Credit: Zuffa LLC

Successfully unifying the crowns, Nurmagomedov retired from the sport in the immediate aftermath of his triangle submission win, before going on to coach at American Kickboxing Academy for a brief period – guiding the above-mentioned Makhchev to the lightweight crown with a submission win of his over Charles Oliveira.

And recently, despite his dominance inside the sport, Khabib Nurmagomedov was branded likely second best in terms of skillset and ability to Makhachev by former training partner and UFC color commentator, Cormier, who speculated the current champion had that little bit of an edge over his once-coach.

Khabib Nurmagomedov receives massive praise

However, according to the trio’s head coach, Mendez, Nurmagomedov is far away ahead of the chasing pack as the most “dangerous’ fighter to ever compete in combat sports, in his opinion.

Islam Makhachev backed as "more dangerous" than Khabib Nurmagomedov by Daniel Cormier UFC — Mandatory Credit: Giuseppe Cacace – AFP

“Okay, he’s (Islam Makhachev) more skilled [than Khabib Nurmagomedov] in multiple areas,” Javier Mendez told MMA Mania. “More dangerous? Nobody’s more dangerous, in my opinion, in the world, than Khabib. No one, I don’t care. I haven’t seen one that’s more dangerous than Khabib.”

“In the sense of danger, meaning, you can’t do nothing to him,” Mendez explained. “You can’t do nothing to him. Khabib’s the most dangerous in my opinion, because first of all – in my opinion, and this is my opinion – and I’m being biased ‘cause I love him to death: He’s got the hardest chin I’ve seen on anybody. He’s been hit – he’s been hit, the only person that’s rocked him a little bit, a tiny bit, was Michael Johnson. Michael Johnson hit him with one hell of a shot, and other than that, no one else has hit him with anything. …He steamrolls everybody.”

Islam Makhachev set to fight twice this year ahead of expected UFC return — Mandatory Credit: Giuseppe Cacece

In terms of a return for the above-mentioned, Makhachev, the Russian has been heavily linked with a title defense against former interim champion, Dustin Poirier as soon as June in his return to the Octagon.

Do you agree with Javier Mendez’s claims about Khabib Nurmagomedov?