Khabib Nurmagomedov hasn’t shifted his position on women’s MMA since stepping away from the sport.
The former lightweight champion was never shy about expressing his disinterest in the women’s side of the sport during his fighting days.
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Nurmagomedov, who follows Islam closely, spoke about it again during a Sun Hills Development event in Phuket, Thailand.
Khabib Nurmagomedov is aware his views on WMMA don’t go down well
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
During the event, a woman from the audience asked Nurmagomedov to share his thoughts on the growing presence of women’s MMA.
The 29-0 UFC great didn’t hold back in his answer, admitting he knew it would draw criticism.
He continued: “How do you personally feel when you go to the gym and get hit in the face? You haven’t been hit. But you don’t need that. But there are women who choose this sport. It’s their choice. They chose it. If you ask me, I wouldn’t choose this sport for women.
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“It’s brutal even for men, first of all. For women it’s… I don’t even consider it.”
Nurmagomedov also added that although he respects any woman who wants to learn self-defence or train in martial arts, he still has trouble with seeing female fighters compete professionally.
“But for me, it’s still something wild when a woman gets hit in the face,” Khabib Nurmagomedov said.
“Whether it’s a man hitting or a woman hitting a woman. Especially if a woman is a mother, or has a couple of kids.”
He then went into further detail regarding gender roles – noting that he doesn’t feel they should be mixed up and prefers when both men and women stick to what they’re naturally good at by design.
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Khabib Nurmagomedov says he doesn’t enjoy women’s MMA
There are still many fans who don’t agree with it, though. One of those is Khabib Nurmagomedov.
While the vast majority of people support women’s MMA, there will always be those who don’t – and Khabib is one of them.
The UFC Hall of Famer spoke about it at an event in Phuket, Thailand, earlier this year.
He said: “I just have an opinion on women’s fighting that’s not going to change.”
“But for me, it’s still something wild when a woman gets hit in the face. Whether it’s a man hitting or a woman hitting a woman. Especially if a woman is a mother or has a couple of kids. She spends the whole day getting hit in the face and then comes home. Where I grew up, I didn’t see anything like that.”
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