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Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev have been partners since their early teens when they trained under the tutelage of Khabib's father, Abulmanap Nurmagomedov. The two have since moved to San Jose, California to train at the American Kickboxing Academy under head coach, Javier Mendez.
In a recent interview, Javier Mendez noted an important difference between the two athletes. According to Mendez, Khabib Nurmagomedov is a defiant fighter who would often deviate from the discussed gameplan while Islam Makhachev is very particular about abiding by his coach's instructions. Weighing in on Islam Makhachev's recent win at UFC 259, Javier Mendez told 'The Schmo':
"My overall thoughts is, man he did fantastic. I wish Khabib, when he was fighting would do that. Listen, you know. Khabib doesn’t listen. I mean all you have to look back to is when he was fighting for the title. You know, he stood and I didn’t want him to stand. So he stands for the title, he stood with Conor (McGregor), you know he stood with Michael Johnson. I mean he defies me a lot of the times. The last two fights Khabib didn’t defy me. He did exactly what we wanted him to do but Islam’s always done that. You know, he is a professional all the way through and through. He’s got a great IQ and great grappling as you saw. Ya, he did me proud and the whole team. You know, ‘Father’s plan’ was in full effect."
Islam Makhachev on 'Father's plan'
After Islam Makhachev's win against Davi Ramos at UFC 242, Khabib placed his belt in front of Makhachev at the post-fight conference and said, 'Future champion'. This plan was envisioned by Khabib's father, Abulmanap Nurmagomedov who is to be credited for the careers of several Dagestani fighters including Islam Makhachev, Tagir Ulanbekov, Rustam Khabilov, Umar Nurmagomedov and Abubakar Nurmagomedov.
Speaking about Khabib's father in an interview with ESPN, Makhachev told Brett Okamoto:
"Khabib's father told me all the time, when Khabib retires you're gonna be next champion. I have to do this, because father all the time told me, 'You're gonna be champion. You're gonna be the next champion."
