Daniel Cormier and his speculations have left all eyes wide open yet again! The former heavyweight champ has thrown guesses at what actually inspired Khabib Nurmagomedov to come to New Jersey and get himself involved in Islam Makhachev’s training for UFC 302.
Recently, Nurmagomedov has constantly released videos of him training alongside Makhachev prior to his protege’s fight against Dustin Poirier. While many believed that it was because Joe Rogan motivated ‘The Eagle’ with talks about his team’s discipline, many others thought that it was to impart his experience to Poirier’s former opponent. But let’s take a look into what DC had in mind.
Why did Khabib Nurmagomedov join the Dagestani team’s training?
In a recent episode of ‘Good Guy/Bad Guy’ on ESPN, Cormier and Chael Sonnen discussed the reason behind Nurmagomedov’s return to the MMA world and coaching his team.
“Another factor in this fight, Chael, and it would be dumb for Islam Makhachev not to use this is having having Khabib be the guy that is almost leading the training,” Cormier said.
DC began by recalling the reason why ‘The Eagle’ stepped away from the MMA world in the first place. He recalled that Nurmagomedov played a crucial role in the success of the team. However, he stepped away after Makhachev won the belt.
After Makhachev’s first fight with Alexander Volkanovski, Nurmagomedov claimed that he received too much attention and didn’t like to overshadow the rising stars. Hence, he took his leave from the MMA universe and retired to give time to his family. However, the former LW champ is back as the coach.
The UFC commentator continued:
“But he’s back now. And he’s in New Jersey. He’s helping him prepare for Dustin Poirier. Is this just the mentor, Chael, coming back to his rightful place, or do you think this speaks to the danger that is Dustin Poirier, and Khabib feels he needs to be more hands-on with his prized pupil?”
Nevertheless, Cormier also seemed to have great respect for ‘The Eagle’. Swooping in when he thought his protege was in troubled waters gave the world an idea of how caring of a mentor Nurmagomedov was. But DC believed no one could ever outshine someone like Nurmagomedov.