Khabib Nurmagomedov, who bid farewell to the MMA world at the start of 2023, is making a remarkable exception by actively participating in the training camp of his dear friend and former training partner, Islam Makhachev, in preparation for their highly anticipated UFC 294 showdown against Charles Oliveira. This unexpected collaboration has ignited excitement among MMA enthusiasts.
Scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on October 21, 2023, the Makhachev-Oliveira bout carries significant historical weight. A year ago, Makhachev secured the Lightweight title from Oliveira in the same arena, with Nurmagomedov in his corner. While it remains uncertain whether “The Eagle” will be in Makhachev’s corner this time, he is actively contributing to Makhachev’s training regimen.
In a recent ESPN interview, Makhachev provided insights into their training sessions, revealing, “He will come tomorrow, train with us in the camp. He’s not going to be my corner coach, but he will be here to help … we come here, like 40 guys, the whole team. I don’t know fight day where he’s gonna be, but next two weeks, he’s going to be here.”
Makhachev also reflected on the intensity of training with Nurmagomedov, sharing, “I miss the time when we were training together, when he had a fight, when I had a fight. But, when he became a coach like two years, one year ago, he pressured us very hard, you know? We did drills, almost 10 rounds sparring. And after all this work, after 1.5 half hours, he says, ‘Okay, now five rounds grappling.'”
He continued, “We never did this when we trained together! Now that he’s become a coach, he thinks he’s not tired because he corners everyone in the cage, and after the sparring he goes, ‘Let’s grapple now,’ and he changes clothes and grapples with us five rounds more. Then we did push-ups, planks, many things.”
Makhachev concluded, “I don’t know what’s coming tomorrow, but everyone is excited. He’s going to watch the whole sparring and he’s gonna train with us. He likes to train, likes to do some grappling. He’s training every day.”
With Makhachev already considered a -340 favorite against Oliveira, Nurmagomedov’s commitment to supporting his training adds a new layer of intrigue to the matchup. In their previous encounter in 2022, Makhachev secured victory over Oliveira via arm-triangle choke midway through the second round.
