PFL<\/a> but around the world in various MMA organisations, and the profile of their luminaries, fosters respect from their peers. Yet it can create jealously and jibes, as well.<\/p>\n\u201cHonestly, I don’t care about this,\u201d Khabib says. \u201cIf people hate, they hate. If somebody doesn\u2019t like you, it’s very hard to become their friends. But the numbers talk, belts talk, and ranking. They talk by themselves. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t have to change somebody’s mind so they like our team. If they don’t like, OK, who cares? That’s why we love the sport. There is competition; there are a lot of different fighters and teams. People can choose whatever they want. But we [are] here [to] take everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
At times, it seems Khabib is giving his all in that quest. One of the most in-demand Muslim athletes in the world, he is still never far from his \u201cbrothers\u201d, often splitting time between cornering fighters across the globe, from the United States to Australia to, now, the UAE.<\/p>\n
Team Khabib in Dubai \u2013 in pictures <\/p>\n
He describes his enjoyment of his current existence as coach as \u201c50-50\u201d \u2013 \u201csometimes I enjoy, sometimes no\u201d \u2013 but underlines that his own competitive itch, even still some way short of turning 40, doesn\u2019t need to be scratched. Anything but.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, almost nothing,\u201d he says when asked what he misses about competing inside the octagon. \u201cI was there a long time, a professional fighter 12 years. I was on top. I was a champion. I felt all the energies. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I miss some competitive energy, I just can go to my gym and can fight some of best fighters in the world. And in my weight classes, even above. And for these kinds of things, I’m fully good.\u201d <\/p>\n
Not that those within the team would share the sentiment. Makkasharip Zaynukov, the lightweight who on Saturday faces Frenchman Amin Ayoub, says Khabib \u201calmost broke\u201d those competing at Road to Dubai during their preparatory camp.<\/p>\n
Renat Khavalov, one of two fighters Khabib claims could steal the show on Saturday, only smiles sheepishly when it’s put to him if he would ever ask his coach to go easy on them in training. Amru Magomedov, the other tipped to highlight this weekend, concurs.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day is a hard day,\u201d says the promising lightweight, who goes up against American Kolton Englund. \u201cBut now it\u2019s just on us to perform.\u201d<\/p>\n
Khabib\u2019s presence, he emphasises, needs to be embraced, used as fuel for the fire. \u201cBig pressure, big responsibility,\u201d Magomedov says. \u201cBecause he sacrifices his time that he could spend with his family and his kids. Instead, he spends it with us. So, of course, it\u2019s a big a pressure as possible on us. But we don\u2019t want to let him down.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Khabib, being taskmaster is not borne from some savage penchant for inflicting pain. It\u2019s a necessity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don’t have choice,\u201d he says. \u201cIf I sacrifice my time, energy, knowledge \u2013 so many things \u2013 of course they’re going to listen \u2013 and most of them they are like my young brothers. <\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody talks about Usman going to fight [on Saturday], but there is Khabib Nabiev \u2013 he’s my cousin too. Amru Magomedov \u2013 he’s not my cousin, but he’s my relative. He’s from my village. We grew up together. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are so many people. They are very close to me, and I have to be here, and I have to support them. I have to give them good advice, to stay focused, to train right and to be the champion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s why they are best, because we push limits. We’re not here to just compete. I want everybody to become champions, that they take all belts. And if you want to become the best, you have to train like it\u2019s your first fight. You don’t have choice. When we have so many facilities, so many good opportunities, we just need to train, eat, train, eat, sleep, repeat. And that’s it. That’s why I push them to the gym.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a way, it pushes Khabib, too. \u201cThe best motivation for me is when they have \u2026 no \u2026 it’s that I just want that they become happy,\u201d he says. \u201cThat they become champions, they become successful in this life. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have this kind of opportunity, and I just want to share with them. This is what keeps me on track. That\u2019s why I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time \u2013 some even say the greatest \u2013 Khabib…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,37179,85,156,155,787],"class_list":{"0":"post-457381","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sport-team","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-standard","15":"tag-story","16":"tag-ufc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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