Family comes first
Family is of great importance for a Russian fighter, and the opinion of parents is the most valuable. Khabib even ended his sports career at the age of 32 after defeating American Justin Gaethje, because it was a request from his mother Patimat Nurmagomedova. After the fight, he admitted that he wanted to be close to her, since the only parent he had left was his mother. And he would like to devote more time to her. The athlete always speaks warmly about his mother, so in his autobiography Khabibtime he writes about her as “filled with tenderness and care for her children, the keeper of the hearth.” “Family always comes first for me. I have the opportunity to live in big cities, where the standard of living is much higher than in Dagestan. But I don’t move to another place, because I have relatives, family, parents. And they won’t be there. Because you have to remember who you are, what you are and where you come from. A person has a family, relatives, and they shouldn’t be ashamed of you,” Nurmagomedov shares.
Father is the main teacher in life
Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov was not only Khabib’s father, but also Khabib’s coach. It was he who gave him important principles in life that need to be followed. Namely, personal example is contagious, always have motivation, be demanding of yourself and be able to force yourself. This allowed Nurmagomedov Jr. to set the highest goals for himself and achieve them. Khabib also recalls that his father never left him without punishment if he was guilty or did something wrong. Abdulmanap Magomedovich believed that if a person performs some action, then he should feel the impact on it. Khabib has been a father for a long time and is trying to pass on the acquired knowledge and values to his heirs, as his father once did.
Help for fellow countrymen
The homeland has always been important for a fighter. He still helps many families and especially athletes from the region. The fighter tries to show generosity towards his fellow countrymen. For example, Nurmagomedov paid for tickets and accommodation for all his friends who wanted to come to his fight with American Dustin Poirier in the UAE.
Discipline is the secret to success
Khabib is from the village of Sildi in Dagestan. An MMA fighter always calls it “the place of discipline.” It was here that Nurmagomedov absorbed this principle from childhood. According to him, there are people who work to earn money, but in his village they work to survive. “Here they lived, and on the other mountain there were their vegetable gardens. In the morning we woke up with the sun, got up, and worked. You automatically become a disciplined person, accustomed to hard work, someone who values his time,” says Habib. The Dagestani constantly quotes Julius Caesar: “Only discipline and exercise lead to courage.” In addition, he always took a very responsible approach to the training process, weight cutting, worked 100% of fights and never allowed himself to miss training or throw a party before an important fight. It would be hard to find a better example of how to be a responsible athlete.
You need to be patient and wait for the best
Every person has black and white stripes in life. In athletes they are especially pronounced when they are injured and have to recover for a long time. Or when there is a long series of losses. Nurmagomedov faced such a period in 2014. For a year he was plagued by injuries: a torn cruciate ligament, followed by surgery on the meniscus, rehabilitation, and then a fracture of two ribs. Then he was visited by thoughts of leaving big sport. His father’s advice helped him: “These are the difficulties and tests that need to be overcome, be patient, otherwise it will be difficult.” As a result, he became the UFC lightweight champion.