Even in retirement, Khabib Nurmagomedov still trains with the same intensity that defined his undefeated career.
During a recent training session with podcaster Lex Fridman, the former UFC lightweight champion gave a look into the mentality that drove him to the top of MMA.
After putting Fridman through a series of exhausting grappling rounds, Khabib explained that the goal was not simply technique, but pressure:
I want to show him a little bit, like pressure.
Scramble after scramble, scramble after scramble, and I put him in my position.
When Fridman asked whether anyone had ever applied that same kind of psychological and physical pressure to him, Khabib answered confidently that he had never experienced it:
With me, no. Since when I was 18, 19, I was always against high level guys.
Because in my gym, I have always high level guys. This is how I grew up.
Khabib also described the structure of his sessions:
Sometimes we’ll go 1.5 hour nonstop.
Maybe changing four or five opponents. Ten to fifteen minutes, another guy, ten to fifteen minutes…
He revealed that he had recently returned from a training camp in Dubai surrounded by elite competitors:
I have training camp in Dubai. I have 25 people. Every day I go, morning and night, and all are champions.
Big, big names.
Despite being retired, he still enjoys the grind and insists his body feels great.
He even admitted that traveling away from partners bothers him because he cannot spar:
Sometimes when I travel for one week, I feel so bad because I can only run and lift because there is no sparring partner…
And I miss it so much.