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‘It Was the Hardest Decision of My Life’- Khabib Nurmagomedov Opens Up on His Retirement From MMA

Published 08/05/2021, 1:07 PM EDT

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Khabib Nurmagomedov is arguably one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time. ‘The Eagle’ was one of the most dominating fighters to be a part of MMA and has a professional MMA record of 29-0. Nurmagomedov last competed in the UFC back in October 2020 against Justin Gaethje and retired from MMA after winning that fight.

Even after being retired, Nurmagomedov is one of the most talked-about fighters in the world. The fighter recently appeared on the Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson Podcast. During that interview, they asked Nurmagomedov how hard it was to leave MMA.

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Nurmagomedov said, “It was like the hardest decision in my life to stop doing this. When I remember I find myself on the mat, all my life I was training, I was prepared for something, since when I was a kid. And now when I finish like half a year ago, every day I go to training, I do something because I know I have competition.”

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“When I was a kid, I was beginning like freestyle wrestling, then I move to judo, combat sambo. MMA I doing like last 13 years, professional and all my life I was doing like something preparing for somebody. But right now it is a bit hard for me, like without competition, but when you finish you finish.”

Nurmagomedov has been a fighter since he was a little child and has always been competing in competitions. Therefore, for someone like him to leave all that behind must have been a very tough decision.

Mike Tyson believes the bear could have killed Khabib Nurmagomedov

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One thing about the former UFC champion that caught everyone’s attention was his video as a child wrestling a bear. Many people have constantly shared their views on that video and now Mike Tyson did the same. During their discussion, Tyson talked about how the bear could have killed Nurmagomedov if it didn’t know him.

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Tyson, with some admiration towards ‘The Eagle’ said, “The bear loves you. If it doesn’t love you, he could kill you in three seconds. You see those claws.” 

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Khabib Nurmagomedov and Mike Tyson are two of the greatest fighters to be a part of combat sports. Therefore, it was great to see these two sporting legends talk about the same.

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Written by:

Paras Pande

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Paras Pande is a UFC author at EssentiallySports who is pursuing his graduation in Journalism and Mass Communication. An ardent follower of the UFC, he has been covering the sport for 2 years now. Before joining the team at EssentiallySports, Paras gained expertise as an MMA writer whilst working with Sportskeeda.
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