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http://spb.sovsport.ru/gazeta/article-item/973621

The situation around the Russian soldier in mixed martial arts Habib Nurmagomedov, acting under the auspices of the UFC lightweight champion, continues to arouse the interest of fans.

As of February 2017, Habib held the thirteenth line of the official UFC ranking among the best fighters regardless of the weight category, as well as the first line in lightweight. On March 5 at the UFC 209 tournament he was to fight Tony Ferguson for the title of "temporary" champion of the organization. However, a few hours before the official weigh-in, Habib was urgently hospitalized because of acute pain in the liver.

In the future, doctors will confirm that Habib pain is associated with forced weight gain. At the moment, Habib's health is stable. Now he is preparing for a fight with Ferguson, which may take place in the fall. "Soviet Sport" met with Habib's father, the deserved trainer of Russia, the senior coach of the Republic of Dagestan in combat sambo, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, to learn about Habib's plans for the future.



- Tell me, how does it feel to be the father of such a famous son?

- Habib is always said to be an undefeated mixed martial arts fighter, the UFC star. But only I, like his father, could make a clarification. Yes, my son is not defeated, but many times he was injured. Extreme loads were very hard for him. Habib was closest to the championship belt. He did everything that depended on him. Of course, he made a lot of mistakes. But this is also due to the fact that I was not with him when he was preparing for a fight with Ferguson. Firstly, the athlete must be trained, and secondly, brought to a good shape. Now this is done only by 50%. At the last stage of preparation for the battle, I actually could not deal with them, since they should be trained right there, in the USA. The time zone also plays an important role.

I helped him at a distance, through communication, like I could. And it turns out that the most important stage, the weighting off, passed without my participation. Correction of nutrition for the athlete is very important. We hired a nutritionist. He did not cope with his task. Very many fans were upset by this situation with Habib. On the first day, Habib chased off four kilograms. The second day - three kilograms. On the third day, he had to lose two kilograms. He decided to force the weight off. And in three days it was too much, a huge load on the body, he could not cope. Pain, attacks.

- This liver could not cope?

- When you lose a lot of weight, the liver may not have time to cleanse the body, which is dehydrated. So it lasts two or three days. I believe that our doctor, Shamil, arrived in time. The pain that began with Habib, Shamil stopped, called an ambulance. On March 3rd, Habib had an attack. But in my experience, the weight cut had to be forced on February 25th. If five liters of water were supplied to the body of the son, there would be no dehydration. I demanded: "Show me the scales. Show me me son in full growth. " The doctor said that the schedule is broken, and it will be very difficult to get out. I was aware of this already in 4-5 days. Spectators, fans, the whole country, believed in him. This time it was not possible.

- How does Habib evaluate Ferguson's chances? Is this his strongest opponent?

- The fight with Ferguson broke three times. Twice because of Habib. Once the fight was foiled by Ferguson. Such a series of victories was never for anyone. Ferguson has nine wins, Habib has eight wins. Not only the battles themselves are not lost, Habib did not even have a single round of losing. These are the two best fighters in the UFC at lightweight. But what happened happened. Now he was examined in Germany. It is encouraging that Habib is preparing a fight in September. About the fight with Ferguson, to be honest, the doctor said a very important thing: "Let's first deal with the health of Habib. And then we'll talk about the fight. " Everyone knew what had put Habib out of action. He was poisoned. Usually he is on a diet. The body can reject some foods.

- They say that Ferguson is not happy with the cancellation of the fight. He spoke in the press about it.

- Ferguson received a certain part of the fee without a fight. Nevertheless, yes, was not happy. Habib received absolutely nothing. 250 000 dollars, I guess, got Ferguson. Everyone does his job. Then, however, the American came to his senses and expressed regret that the fight broke, wished my son health. He had a case in his career, too, when his lungs were filled with blood, he could not fight. These are all costs of colossal loads.

- Did you raise your son as a fighter or did it happen by itself?

- Habib has been playing sports since he started walking. In the house where we lived, we had on the first floor a hall of 10 to 6 meters, I began to bring Habib to the tatami. I think that out of 28 years he has been doing sports for 27 years. Habib took the first steps on the tatami. By the age of two he had been doing all the exercises for clap. I clapped, and my son did a somersault. But personally, I believed that the most promising was not Habib, but my eldest son Magomed, born in 1986. He was born in 1986. He went on a freestyle wrestling. At that time, I did not train in the village, but worked as a store manager. I took him to the kindergarten in the morning, and after 4 took him to the training. The children grew up in my room. But the eldest son at the age of 18 had a very serious injury to the cervical spine. I am very glad that he did not remain disabled. He performed a back flip without insurance, very seriously injured. He had to tie his sport. But he is doing well, he owns four foreign languages. For health reasons and individual moments of talent, he was better than Habib. Injury prevented everything. But not everyone can be champions.

- Could you imagine that Habib is waiting for a resounding success in the future?

- My son had dreams when he was young. He told them to me. He says: "Daddy, I had a dream tonight: I hit, the opponent falls and the hall explodes with applause. He saw himself in the future. Habib from us initially engaged in three years of freestyle wrestling, then went to judo, he did very well. I wanted him to stay in this sport, to be honest. Then he began to go to combat sambo. By the age of 16-17 he was finally in the martial arts. The first successes began at 17 years of "hand-to-hand" and combat sambo. In 19 years he became the champion of Russia. Then the unbeaten series began. And at the age of 24 he collected many titles. I think, dreams are prophetic. We will still see our son a winner.

- Do you expect to receive a visa in the future? There was some political background, as far as I remember, due to the fact that you were not given a visa ...

- Yes, I went to the USA twice, I was at the fights of Islam Makhachev. So when all these political events related to Ukraine began, when the Crimea became part of Russia, various sanctions began to come up against Russian athletes and coaches. When Islam won the fight, they told me: "No flags." I was forbidden to take the Russian flag. Then it was only the first swallows of sanctions. And I went out with the flag no matter what. I was warned that I did not do this any more, threatened with a fine. A year later, I was denied the right to enter the States. Now I'm trying to get a visa. They help me. I am glad that the battle of Islam will be held on May 28. I will be rooting for him.

