Khabib Nurmagomedov has marked the one-year anniversary of his father’s death with words of wisdom to all his followers.
Last year, tragedy struck the Nurmagomedov family when the patriarch and influential coach of many, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, succumbed to COVID-19 complications and died a year to the day, on July 3, 2020.
Abdulmanap coached Khabib for practically as long as Khabib could walk, and the fruits of both men’s hard work can be found in The Eagle’s flawless 29-0 record.
One year later, Khabib took to Instagram to share some deep musings about the death of his beloved father and the lessons that anyone can take away from such an untimely passing.
“Today is already a year since the Father is not with us. This event increased my conviction that nothing in this world belongs to us, neither our children, nor our parents, nor our property. All we have is all temporary.
“Everything belongs to Allah alone and to Him will be our return, tie your hearts to Allah, stay more alone with Him, because the time will come and we will all be put in a grave, where we will be alone, where our friends, relatives, property and our connections will not be, only our deeds and report.”
Many people believed that we would see Khabib immediately retire after the passing of his father. This prediction was partially true, as the undefeated Nurmagomedov did retire earlier than he had initially planned to, with his father’s death being the catalyst that led to the retirement.
He did, however, compete one more time against Justin Gaethje last October at UFC 254 in yet another memorable Khabib performance, submitting Gaethje in the second round before emotionally announcing his retirement during his post-fight interview.
Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov served as a coach and mentor to many other Russian fighters as well, most notably the current #9-ranked lightweight Islam Makhachev, who is scheduled to face Thiago Moises two weeks from today on July 17.
