For years, Khabib Nurmagomedov remained a fighter who flew under the radar in terms of popularity. But his triumph over Conor McGregor in the UFC 229 grudge match turned him into a globally celebrated superstar. Well, most of that credit goes to how ‘The Eagle’ finished the fight by brutally dominating the Irishman. But according to the former UFC lightweight champion’s close friend, Kamaru Usman, much of that credit belongs to Conor McGregor.

“We all know Khabib is not Khabib without Conor,” Usman said on the Pound 4 Pound podcast. “We know that. Khabib is not Khabib without Conor. Khabib. Listen, yes, he is that because of his talent. Obviously, his talent and how good he was. But you needed that foe. You needed that bad guy to vanquish to get you there.”

When it comes to the UFC, rivalries have often propelled fighters to superstardom. Just as Khabib Nurmagomedov, fighters like Daniel Cormier also had rivalries with Jon Jones that helped elevate their popularity. However, it is also true that it was the Irishman who carried much of the promotional load for their UFC 229 showdown.

Conor McGregor’s infamous bus attack, along with his fiery tirades at the press conference, created the chaos and tension that fueled the massive hype around the bout. But when the cage door closed, it was Khabib Nurmagomedov who had the last laugh, dominantly submitting McGregor and emerging victorious from the entire saga. In that sense, the former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman rightly pointed out that ‘The Eagle’s popularity grew because ‘The Notorious’ cut those promos.

But it’s not just Usman who believes McGregor played a major role in Khabib’s stardom. Even the Dagestani legend’s close friend and former teammate, Daniel Cormier, also admitted that he owes part of his global fame to the Irishman.

Now, with the former UFC welterweight champion echoing Cormier’s take, Khabib Nurmagomedov had himself once offered his perspective on the matter.

Khabib Nurmagomedov admits the Conor McGregor rivalry changed him a lot

While Kamaru Usman and Daniel Cormier pointed out how Khabib Nurmagomedov’s rise to superstardom was heavily influenced by Conor McGregor, the former lightweight champion neither fully denied nor completely embraced that idea. Instead, he placed greater emphasis on how the fight with ‘The Notorious’ changed him mentally and physically.

Taking a trip back in time, Khabib once explained how he wanted to call out McGregor at UFC 205 when both men shared the same card. He understood that a fight against the Irish superstar would become a massive spectacle, which pushed him to train even harder for the matchup, despite the bout eventually taking place two years later at UFC 229. 

“I fought Michael Johnson in 2016,” Khabib said, “Conor McGregor fought [Eddie] Alvarez. Conor defended the belt, and I wanted to fight him. Then there was big talk that we were going to fight. Everywhere I was, everywhere they were discussing the Khabib and Conor fight. I realized that there were big and high-profile fights ahead of me, where I needed to train harder.

“This motivated me to train even more and more correctly. To take time not only for the physical [side] but also for the mental. I changed a lot after this fight.”

With both fighters sharing such a historic rivalry, it’s almost inevitable that they influenced each other’s professional careers and the superstardom that came along with it.