{"id":860484,"date":"2026-08-16T19:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T19:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/860484\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T19:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T19:42:10","slug":"the-forgotten-members-of-team-khabib","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/860484\/","title":{"rendered":"The Forgotten Members of Team Khabib"},"content":{"rendered":"

Team Khabib have a phenomenal record in MMA, but there’s no denying that there’s more than meets the eye.<\/p>\n

UFC 330<\/a> saw yet another win for a member of Team Khabib, Islam Makhachev<\/a>. The welterweight champion extended his record to 29-1 and added to the overall record of his team, which, on paper, is phenomenal.<\/p>\n

Before Khabib came his father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, one of the greatest minds in MMA. Following his death in 2020, Khabib took the mantle of the team on his shoulders.<\/p>\n

ESPN put out a graphic stating that Team Khabib’s combined record is absolutely ridiculous.<\/p>\n

The current combined record of Team Khabib is absolutely ridiculous \ud83d\ude33<\/p>\n

One man\u2019s vision. Father\u2019s Plan \ud83d\ude4c pic.twitter.com\/BeS8bxyZsg<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 ESPN MMA (@espnmma)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Whilst that is true, the graphic and names thrown around as part of ‘Team Khabib’ don’t tell the whole picture. We take a look at those forgotten men.<\/p>\n

The Forgotten Men of Team Khabib
\nAbubakar Nurmagomedov<\/p>\n

Former PFL<\/a> and UFC<\/a> man Abubakar Nurmagomedov<\/a> is the older cousin of Khabib Nurmagomedov and trained under Abdulmanap.<\/p>\n

There’s no doubt that Abubakar is a solid fighter, although arguably he’s most known for his infamous involvement in the UFC 229 post-fight brawl with Conor McGregor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His record when he retired in 2023 was 17-4-1. In the UFC, he lost to David Zawada and Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

An extremely respected record; however, due to his multiple losses, he’s often left out of the ‘Team Khabib’ talk.<\/p>\n

Tagir Ulanbekov<\/p>\n

Flyweight Tagir Ulanbekov<\/a> is one of the more recognisable names from Team Khabib who doesn’t get mentioned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Fighting under the Fight Nights Global banner as well as Gorilla Fighting before joining the UFC, Ulanbekov amassed a record of 11-1. After he joined the UFC, he picked up back-to-back wins in his first two outings before dropping a decision to Tim Elliott. A four-fight winning run was snapped with a loss to Kyoji Horiguchi in November of last year.<\/p>\n

Still an active fighter, Ulanbekov has a record of 17-3 and is rarely spoken about as a member of ‘Team Khabib’.<\/p>\n

Sultan Aliev<\/p>\n

Another forgotten man of Team Khabib is Sultan Aliev. The Russian retired from professional competition in 2019 after a win in Saint Petersburg. He was coached by both Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov and Greg Jackson and certainly failed to hit the heights of other members of Team Khabib.<\/p>\n

He joined the UFC with a record of 13-1 but would slip and retire with a promotional record of 2-2, having been finished twice. Again, however, he is never mentioned when considering Team Khabib. He retired with a record of 15-3.<\/p>\n

Zubaira Tukhugov<\/p>\n

Zubaira Tukhugov<\/a> debuted in 2010, but it was clear from early on that he wasn’t going to be a phenom like Khabib or Islam Makhachev. He progressed to 5-1 and would join the UFC with a record of 15-3 and pick up three victories before losing to Renato Moicano in 2016.<\/p>\n

He then received a two-year USADA suspension due to a positive test for ostarine. He largely rose to fame throughout the bitter McGregor\/Khabib rivalry surrounding UFC 229 and received a suspension for his involvement in the post-fight brawl.<\/p>\n

He returned and got a draw against Lerone Murphy before going 2-2. He missed weight for both of the fights that he lost. He was released in 2023 and was set to face Artem Lobov in 2025 under the PFL banner; however, the fight never materialised.<\/p>\n

The Russian is all but retired with a record of 20-6-1.<\/p>\n

The ‘True’ Record<\/p>\n

If we take into account the four ‘forgotten’ fighters discussed, the record of Team Khabib is still incredible. They have a combined record of 69-16-2.<\/p>\n

Adding this to the record of the more regularly mentioned members of Team Khabib, the overall record would sit at 178-18-2, still an outstanding record.<\/p>\n