Mendez recalled the moment when Khabib was struggling to cope with fame

American mixed martial arts coach Javier Mendez shared a story about advice he once gave to Khabib Nurmagomedov. In an interview with Hikmat Wehbi, the specialist recalled that at a certain point in his career, the former UFC champion complained about an excessive number of interviews.

"He said: 'Coach, I'm tired of these endless interviews! There are too many of them.' I asked: 'Do you want to get rid of this?' - 'Yes,' he replied. Then I said: 'It's simple: go into the octagon and lose. After that, no one will interview you.' Since then, Khabib has never had problems with this," Mendez noted.

According to him, the situation occurred in 2017, when Nurmagomedov did not yet hold the UFC championship title.

Recall that Khabib's last fight took place in the fall of 2020. He defeated Justin Gaethje and immediately after the fight announced his retirement, referring to a promise to his mother not to fight without his father. Later, Nurmagomedov created his own league, Eagle FC.

On January 31, Conor McGregor once again challenged Khabib. Their previous fight took place in October 2018 at UFC 229 and ended with Nurmagomedov's victory in the fourth round.