Usman Nurmagomedov is more than grateful for the guidance of his cousin, Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Usman looks to defend his lightweight title against Alexandr Shabliy in the main event at Bellator Champions Series on Sept. 7 at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California. While Khabib had taken a short hiatus from all things MMA last year, “The Eagle” has recently taken a more active role in helping his teammates and relatives from Dagestan, including the likes of Umar Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev.
Khabib is also helping the undefeated Bellator lightweight champ for his upcoming title defense and will be cornering him as well. Usman says the training environment is just different in Khabib’s presence. According to Usman, Khabib’s knowledge of the sport is second to none and it is a divine gift to have the UFC Hall of Famer by his side.
“For us, this is gift from God,” Usman said during a recent Bellator media call. “People like Khabib, this guy is like, you cannot find like this guy like around you. This is so hard to find some someone like Khabib. He support us so much, he’s helping. And he know everything about MMA like nobody know. And when he in camp this is different, like everything is different, you’re feeling different. You like learning so much, you grow up yourself so much and this is like I’m very thankful for God because of Khabib we have.”
Shabliy is currently undefeated in five Bellator outings and hasn’t lost overall since 2016. However, “Peresvet” is just another name to add to the resume for Nurmagomedov.
“No, this is same thing like before guys,” Usman said. “It’s not like something different. Same guy, who was lose before. And nothing, nothing. Just [another] name and that’s it.”
Nurmagomedov also believes Shabliy’s primary weakness is mental and expects him to give up once the fight goes into deep waters.
“I think his weakness is in his mind,” Usman said. “When time going to come, when cage is going to close, when after two, three rounds, he’s gonna be tired, he will give up, I think. But we’ll see.”
