Khabib Nurmagomedov is a legend in MMA, retiring undefeated as a UFC champion who beat the who is who of UFC fighters with apparent ease. His coach at AKA, Javier Mendez now shares that Khabib has never actually tapped to anyone in sparring.
Khabib Nurmagomedov not only has a spotless MMA record, but he also never tapped to a submission in the gym, according to American Kickboxing Academy head coach and owner Javier Mendez.
According to Mendez, in an interview for Mike Swick’s podcast:
I said it, what people don’t fully understand, he is the only person that’s never lost a sparring session. I never said rounds, I said session. Never in his life, since I have known him, has he lost a sparring session.
He might lose a round here and there, never lost a sparring session; never been submitted, never been close to being submitted in actual MMA sparring. Never.
To make things clear, the stables at AKA are filled with some of the best UFC and MMA fighters on the planet, from Daniel Cormier and Islam Makhachev to Luke Rockhold and Cain Velasquez. So it is not just some room filled with MMA enthusiast amateurs and hobbyists, but the best of the best in all weight classes that Khabib faced on a day-to-day basis.
Javier Mendez added that only once he saw Khabib in danger, but for a short time only:
“The only time I seen him close to being submitted was one time when Kyle Crutchmer.
I was like so shocked, dude I was about to go, grab my camera and go: “Oh okay, I got him. I’m gonna film him get actually tapped out.” And he got out of it. And I was like: “How the effin’ hell did he do that?”
Hey, he’s a phenom, that’s just the way it is.”
