Undefeated Dagestani Khabib Nurmagomedov announced a change in his training camp last year when he moved from AKA to the recently created KHK Team under the patronage of the 5th son of Bahrain's King - Sheikh Khalid Bin Hamad Al Khalifa. While Khabib now spends a lot of his training time at the new camp in Bahrain, his coach Javier Mendez claims that his relations with Khabib haven't changed at all.

"Khabib changed teams but he did not change his MMA coach," Mendez told BloodyElbow. "I'm still his MMA coach together with Khabib's main coach, his father Abdulmanap. My relationship is stronger then ever with Khabib, I love him as I would a son!"

When asked about KHK's experience in training fighters, Mendez didn't fall into skepticism. He presumed that Khabib was mature enough to know what is better for his career:

"All fighters need to fly on their own at some point." said Mendez, "I'm sure the Sheikh is building something great, and Khabib believes it is good for him to be involved in this team."

When the conversation touched on the upcoming fight between Khabib and Tony Ferguson, AKA's head coach didn't hold his feelings on whose hand would be raised in the end:

"I think we will see a great fight. But as for me, I believe only Khabib can beat Khabib at lightweight!"