After Setback With Cousin Umar, Khabib Nurmagomedov Comes Clean on UFC Baku’s Plan for Teammate

The UFC’s global promotional events are underway, and now the latest international fight week is going to take place in Baku, Azerbaijan. This is going to be the first presentation of the UFC in the Eurasian country, and leading the fight card is one of the top light heavyweights in the UFC: Jamahal Hill vs. Khalil Rountree Jr. The country is full of huge fans of MMA, and we can expect the fans to fill the stadium to its absolute limit.

But the Eagle’s eyes are only focused on the co-main event of UFC’s first showdown in Baku. It’s been a while since the UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomedov put down his gloves in the octagon and decided to continue his career as a coach. Since then, he has given UFC many contenders and, for the fighters, more and more threats. For the showdown in Baku, Khabib’s team is representing the Russian fighter and a rising flyweight contender, Tagir Ulanbekov. Khabib showed support for his student in a story he shared on his Instagram.

Coach Khabib is focused on bringing Ulanbekov into the top prospects of the flyweight division, as he has with his former students who are currently on the said list of fighters across divisions. Khabib has proven himself to be a top-tier coach and is ranked 10th in the 125-pound division. Ulanbekov definitely knows how big of an advantage this is for him. The Eagle has yet again found himself a prospect for a division his team hasn’t conquered before, and with his students taking over one division after another, Khabib’s plans aren’t that different for Ulanbekov either.

Yet, when we talk about Khabib’s students, the latest memory is one that leaves us with a bad taste in the mouth. When the ‘Young Eagle’ clashed against the 135-pound division kingpin Merab Dvalishvili, the Eagle could do nothing but watch his little brother getting dominated and humiliated by the Machine.

Khabib Nurmagomedov targets a new division with flyweight Ulanbekov. An attempt to recover from the Young Eagle nightmare?

The whole of the MMA community united remembers the event UFC 311 for the same reason. When Team Khabib’s special fighter, student and younger brother of Khabib himself, Umar Nurmagomedov, stepped inside the octagon to face off against Dvalishvili, many thought we would finally see an end to the Georgian’s run. However, when the dust settled, we saw a rather broken and beaten Umar in a corner while Dvalishvili celebrated another dominant title defense, leaving Khabib rather shocked as to what the Dagestani and his team will do next.

While his brother-in-arms student Islam Makhachev sits comfortably on the lightweight throne, perhaps Khabib overlooked Merab’s qualities. Rarely ever do we see a Dagestani get dominated like that. Khabib was even able to turn Belal Muhammad into a welterweight champion after he spent a long time training with him. But what went wrong with Umar? While Khabib sits down and figures out his future, he has set his eyes on the flyweight division with a prospect in Tagir Ulanbekov.

So the real question is, can Ulanbekov be the man who brings Khabib out of the UFC 311 nightmare? Umar is an amazing fighter but he did not have what it took to beat possibly the best version of Dvalishvili. It’s safe to say Khabib has already planned a pathway for Ulanbekov to the title, and with a veteran in Pantoja as the champion, he too has a huge task at hand. But before fighting the champion, you have to beat the contenders. Can he pull it off? What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

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