Khabib Nurmagomedov’s father and also his coach, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, recently gave an interview to the popular Russian newspaper “Sovetsky Sport”. Here we translated some of the most interesting parts and Abdulmanap’s quotes from this interview.

Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov about the upcoming NSAC hearing

“It’s hard to predict the decision. I think it will just be a big fine and a possible suspension but not for long. If suspension is more than 6 months, UFC will lose a lot of money. We are talking about almost a billion of dollars. Suspension is not in anyone’s interest…”

About the money for fighting McGregor

“So far we only got a million. The rest of the money are frozen in our bank account. Please don’t ask me how much exactly…”

About Khabib’s jump over the fence

“We talked about it. We came to a conclusion that it won’t happen again…”

About Khabib’s recent traveling around the world and doing a lot of public events

“Khabib is always training even when he is in Saudi Arabia, Paris or Turkey. I am not concerned at all, he knows how to take care of his body and stay in shape. He is in great conditions at the moment…”

About Khabib vs Tony Ferguson fight

“A fight against Tony Ferguson is not very interesting for us. Tony is a good fighter but he is not on the same level as Khabib. We’ve never lost, we were never knocked down. Ferguson’s wrestling skills are not even close to ours. I think even Islam Makhachev (Khabib’s sparring partner) would easily get a win against Tony…”

About the future

“Right now Khabib is in his prime. And we are planning to fight maybe 2-3 more times. We know this won’t last forever – in the sport such as MMA you can’t be always at the top. Khabib will probably fight 2 more years, 3 max. Eventually, there will be someone else younger, stronger and healthier who will take Khabib’s spot at the top. Same thing goes to Mayweather. He won’t be a super champion forever…”

About Khabib’s contract with the UFC

“We have one more fight in our current contract with the UFC. And we have a lot of other options. UFC will probably offer another contract for 3-4 fights but it will all depend on the money they offer. If we don’t like the offer from UFC, we always have a few other options from different organizations…”

About the next opponent for Nurmagomedov

“We are interested to fight Dustin Poirier or Nate Diaz next. Poirier is a strong striker, Diaz – we have some unfinished business with him. It would be a special and spectacular fight if Khabib fought against Diaz…”

Is it an option to fight Georges St-Pierre?

“Why not? We are very interested in it because St-Pierre is a legend. But it will probably have to be at catchweight…”

About changing the division

“Honestly, at the moment we are more pushing to fight St-Pierre after the end of our current contract with the UFC. It is possible, there are very serious investors that are interested in this fight in the United Arab Emirates (it’s where the fight might take place). People want to see this fight, a match-up between these two styles…

But at the moment we still have one more fight in the UFC and after that we will be open for offers…”