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@shoorik1987 kindly translated a new interview from Khabib.
Brand new Khabib interview
- Thread starter Willie
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New Khabib interview. Can't make my own posts, so thanks @Willie for helping me out with this.
About preparation in Dagestan
Usually I prepare in US and then a couple of weeks before the fight we flight out too wherever the fight is taking place.
This Time we decided to do preparations in Dagestan because of the pandemic, last time my fight was canceled because of that. So this time we’re doing the main preparations here and at the end phase fly to Abu-Dhabi.
Who will be accompanying you to Abu-Dhabi?
27th of October Zubaira will have a fight 10th of October Tagir Ulanbekov is fighting. Islam Makhachev and Umar Nurmagomedov and the rest of the guys who will be helping us to prepare.
We know about Umar’s opponent and Islam as well. Who will Abubakar be fighting?
Tagir got an opponent as well. About Abubakar, we decided to move his fight date to December. We decided that he can reach optimal form in December. So he will preparing with us and help us, but he will fight in December
If you compare and rank all of your opponents what level or at what place would you put him? First, second, third?
There are different kind of levels depending on what skill you look at. When it comes to take-down defense, he’s in the first place. If you look at his cardio, I think he’s not even top-3 and I’m going to prove this in the fight. His ground game is a big question mark, we’ve never seen his ground game. So we’ll have to see what that’s all about during the fight.
You have said that you want to fight GSP in LW. Why LW, 40 year old GSP will have a hard time making that weight.
Well, that’s not my problems. I don’t care about that. This fight has meaning only at LW, since it has to be a fight for the title. He doesn’t have a belt at WW, he’s the former champion. So we have to fight at LW if this is going to be a championship fight.
Have you changed your stance on changing weight classes?
No, I’m a natural LW. And I think that I started my career in UFC at LW and I’ll finish it there. I have no wish to switch weightclasses.
What do you think about Jon Jones being #1 P4P and you in #2?
To be honest I would myself put Jon Jones at #1 spot. I think he defended his belt 9 times and he is unbeaten even if he has 1 DQ loss. He’s beating big names, many legends. But his last couple of fights he’s not showing his best performances, lost many rounds, many people even argue that he lost a couple of his last fights. There are also PED scandals. But if you look at his skillset I think he’s #1 P4P, justly.
They say that co-main event on during your next event will be Poirier vs Ferguson. Who will win and who will you cheer for?
Anyone of them can win, but I’m leaning towards Poirier. It would be a good co-main event and it would draw more attention to our event.
Ali Abdelaziz says that Usman Nurmagomedov (Khabib’s cousin) who will fight on 9th of September in Moscow is an improved version of Khabib. Is that true?
The MMA community will certainly hear about Usman in the future. But instead of praising him, I prefer to beat him up in training. I think that will have a better influence on him. It’s to early to talk about him. The kid has 10-0 streak in MMA, he’s undefeated, we have big plans for him. But at the moment I think it’s not time to talk about him or praise him. He still has a lot to prove.
How big is the chance for rematch with McGregor?
I’m completely uninterested in this. Sure there is a chance. But right now there are deserving contenders who are good, tough and active. I’m not thinking about him at all. I already did all I had to do with him. I don’t care at all about what media is saying. I proved in 2018, that as an opponent inside the cage, he has nothing to oppose me.
When you retire, will you retire for good or is there a chance that you will make a comeback which happens to a lot of fighter?
90% of athletes make comebacks after retirements. I can almost certainly say that I will retire for good. If there will be something it might be some kind of exhibition matches. But it will be impossible to rise to this level after retirement. I will not be returning to UFC after retirement.
Do you need a boxing fight with Floyd Mayweather? Is he the only boxer who you’d like to fight?
Yes, he’s the only one. Do I need it? It would be a good money fight, but I wouldn’t want to sell out my legacy for millions of dollars. I understand completely Mayweather would be hard for me to beat in a pure boxing match. Maybe if I need money some day.
You recently named top-5 Russian fighters (Yan, Zabit, Islam, Askarov and Ismailov). Recently Nemkov won Bellator belt. Is he top-5 in your opinion?
Yes, he’s certainly top-5. When I named my top-5 I had Vadim in mind and understood that if he wins his fight he’ll be a top 5. Vadim is not just an MMA fighter, he has a huge body of work in the amateurs, in hand to hand combat and in combat sambo. He has great chance to enter top-5. There are Blachwicz, Rakic, Thiago Silva and Dominic Reyes. I would put Nemkov on the same level as those guys.
What do you think about potential fight between Fedor and Brock Lesnar?
Sure it’s a good fight. But I think the best fight for Fedor would be against Werdum. He’s a free agent now so this fight can easily be arranged. It would be a good fight for Fedor and he can avenge that unfortunate loss.
Is there a fight in MMA that didn’t happen but that you would like to have seen?
Yes, prime Cain Velasquez vs prime Fedor. Cain was the dominant champion in UFC and Fedor was the dominant champion in pride with a huge void between them and the #1 contender in their organizations. That would be an epic fight.
Gaethje said that Javier Mendez has nothing to do with your gameplans.
I think that he’s completely wrong. From 2012, one of the most important people in my career is Javier Mendez. He’s #2 as we said, my father was #1.
A couple of weeks ago we spoke on the phone and Javier said to me. We’re preparing for the fight, send me a video of your sparring. I forgot about it and didn’t send so 2 days later he called me up and said, you promised to send me video of your sparring. I understand that it’s hard what you’re going through, but we’re in camp and have to remain professional, so send me a video of your sparring, it’s an order. So we have good, friendly relationship, but when in camp we approach it professionally and responsibly and we’re very critical towards each other.
So what Gaethje is saying, he has absolutely no clue about our communication with Javier.
After the loss of your father, how has your system of preparation changed. This is the first fight camp without him.
The system hasn’t changed, but the atmosphere has changed. This gym where we are, this was his project, he never god to see it finished. The system hasn’t changed, but I miss my father. But what can we do about it? We have to accept it and keep moving forward. There’s no other choice. You either have to leave the sport or approach it responsibly. So I keep training as always, maybe even more than usual. But the system remains.
Will it feel like something’s missing without him? He would have been in Abu Dhabi with you.
Yes, of course. You know, when I signed the contract, I had 2 options. Either Vegas or Abu Dhabi. I chose Abu Dhabi, because my father could be present. So we signed the contract and then father passed away, but we couldn’t change the place.
You’re a famous superstar. What kind of person are you trying to be?
I’m certainly not living a superstar life. People around me in my village are not treating me like that. It may be important to some. I don’t like communicating with people like that, I’m a star, you’re not a star, that’s wrong in my opinion. I’m a common person, inside the gym I’m tough of course. Usman can confirm that (smile) and Umar could confirm that yesterday. Outside of the gym we have common human relationships. I have a lot of family and close friends around me. We’ve been close our whole life. I was born and grew up in this village, nothing has changed in 27 years, we’re sticking to our system.
But can you show you face in public?
Well I can in theory… But usually a lot of people gather and want to take pictures and autographs. I couple of weeks ago I met a friend for 15 minutes in a café. After 15 minutes there were 40-50 people outside waiting to take a picture. So I had to stand there 25 minutes taking picture with women and children.
Do you refuse?
95% of the time no.
How would you rate your current form?
65%, there is still 50 days before the fight. In that time I will reach optimal form. 24th of October I will try to finish my opponent. I have a goal of finishing him in 2-3 round.
Will it be an interesting fight?
For me it will be interesting to see how his ground game is. We’ve never seen that. Second when it comes to cardio, I think I’m twice the man he is. When it comes to striking, many people underestimate my striking, but during my 12 years of fighting professionally I never had a cut, a scratch or event a bruise. Justin Gaethje, we’ve seen him knocked out brutally two times, he take a lot of damage in his fights. But he’s a very tough fighter with good chin. I think though that I’m a better striker then him.
Many MMA fans often critique you for spending a lot of time wrestling with your opponents on the ground.
Because I don’t lose my fights the way that they’d like me to? Maybe it’s like that?
Look, the best aspect of my game is my ground game and my top control, why would I fight how fans want me to fight? I’m a dominating champion and have been in this game for 12 years. It has never happened in the history of this sport that a person that is competing for as long as I do, does it without losses. I think that my fight IQ is higher than people asking those questions why I fight this way or that way. It’s up to me to decide how I fight, and the fans can decide if they want to watch it or not.
That doesn’t matter to me at all. My fans will watch, my haters will watch as well because they hope they’ll see me loose. I have no issues with that.
I just go in there and do my thing. Everyone knows my game plan, let them try and stop me. There is certain excitement in that for the fans.
About preparation in Dagestan
Usually I prepare in US and then a couple of weeks before the fight we flight out too wherever the fight is taking place.
This Time we decided to do preparations in Dagestan because of the pandemic, last time my fight was canceled because of that. So this time we’re doing the main preparations here and at the end phase fly to Abu-Dhabi.
Who will be accompanying you to Abu-Dhabi?
27th of October Zubaira will have a fight 10th of October Tagir Ulanbekov is fighting. Islam Makhachev and Umar Nurmagomedov and the rest of the guys who will be helping us to prepare.
We know about Umar’s opponent and Islam as well. Who will Abubakar be fighting?
Tagir got an opponent as well. About Abubakar, we decided to move his fight date to December. We decided that he can reach optimal form in December. So he will preparing with us and help us, but he will fight in December
If you compare and rank all of your opponents what level or at what place would you put him? First, second, third?
There are different kind of levels depending on what skill you look at. When it comes to take-down defense, he’s in the first place. If you look at his cardio, I think he’s not even top-3 and I’m going to prove this in the fight. His ground game is a big question mark, we’ve never seen his ground game. So we’ll have to see what that’s all about during the fight.
You have said that you want to fight GSP in LW. Why LW, 40 year old GSP will have a hard time making that weight.
Well, that’s not my problems. I don’t care about that. This fight has meaning only at LW, since it has to be a fight for the title. He doesn’t have a belt at WW, he’s the former champion. So we have to fight at LW if this is going to be a championship fight.
Have you changed your stance on changing weight classes?
No, I’m a natural LW. And I think that I started my career in UFC at LW and I’ll finish it there. I have no wish to switch weightclasses.
What do you think about Jon Jones being #1 P4P and you in #2?
To be honest I would myself put Jon Jones at #1 spot. I think he defended his belt 9 times and he is unbeaten even if he has 1 DQ loss. He’s beating big names, many legends. But his last couple of fights he’s not showing his best performances, lost many rounds, many people even argue that he lost a couple of his last fights. There are also PED scandals. But if you look at his skillset I think he’s #1 P4P, justly.
They say that co-main event on during your next event will be Poirier vs Ferguson. Who will win and who will you cheer for?
Anyone of them can win, but I’m leaning towards Poirier. It would be a good co-main event and it would draw more attention to our event.
Ali Abdelaziz says that Usman Nurmagomedov (Khabib’s cousin) who will fight on 9th of September in Moscow is an improved version of Khabib. Is that true?
The MMA community will certainly hear about Usman in the future. But instead of praising him, I prefer to beat him up in training. I think that will have a better influence on him. It’s to early to talk about him. The kid has 10-0 streak in MMA, he’s undefeated, we have big plans for him. But at the moment I think it’s not time to talk about him or praise him. He still has a lot to prove.
How big is the chance for rematch with McGregor?
I’m completely uninterested in this. Sure there is a chance. But right now there are deserving contenders who are good, tough and active. I’m not thinking about him at all. I already did all I had to do with him. I don’t care at all about what media is saying. I proved in 2018, that as an opponent inside the cage, he has nothing to oppose me.
When you retire, will you retire for good or is there a chance that you will make a comeback which happens to a lot of fighter?
90% of athletes make comebacks after retirements. I can almost certainly say that I will retire for good. If there will be something it might be some kind of exhibition matches. But it will be impossible to rise to this level after retirement. I will not be returning to UFC after retirement.
Do you need a boxing fight with Floyd Mayweather? Is he the only boxer who you’d like to fight?
Yes, he’s the only one. Do I need it? It would be a good money fight, but I wouldn’t want to sell out my legacy for millions of dollars. I understand completely Mayweather would be hard for me to beat in a pure boxing match. Maybe if I need money some day.
You recently named top-5 Russian fighters (Yan, Zabit, Islam, Askarov and Ismailov). Recently Nemkov won Bellator belt. Is he top-5 in your opinion?
Yes, he’s certainly top-5. When I named my top-5 I had Vadim in mind and understood that if he wins his fight he’ll be a top 5. Vadim is not just an MMA fighter, he has a huge body of work in the amateurs, in hand to hand combat and in combat sambo. He has great chance to enter top-5. There are Blachwicz, Rakic, Thiago Silva and Dominic Reyes. I would put Nemkov on the same level as those guys.
What do you think about potential fight between Fedor and Brock Lesnar?
Sure it’s a good fight. But I think the best fight for Fedor would be against Werdum. He’s a free agent now so this fight can easily be arranged. It would be a good fight for Fedor and he can avenge that unfortunate loss.
Is there a fight in MMA that didn’t happen but that you would like to have seen?
Yes, prime Cain Velasquez vs prime Fedor. Cain was the dominant champion in UFC and Fedor was the dominant champion in pride with a huge void between them and the #1 contender in their organizations. That would be an epic fight.
Gaethje said that Javier Mendez has nothing to do with your gameplans.
I think that he’s completely wrong. From 2012, one of the most important people in my career is Javier Mendez. He’s #2 as we said, my father was #1.
A couple of weeks ago we spoke on the phone and Javier said to me. We’re preparing for the fight, send me a video of your sparring. I forgot about it and didn’t send so 2 days later he called me up and said, you promised to send me video of your sparring. I understand that it’s hard what you’re going through, but we’re in camp and have to remain professional, so send me a video of your sparring, it’s an order. So we have good, friendly relationship, but when in camp we approach it professionally and responsibly and we’re very critical towards each other.
So what Gaethje is saying, he has absolutely no clue about our communication with Javier.
After the loss of your father, how has your system of preparation changed. This is the first fight camp without him.
The system hasn’t changed, but the atmosphere has changed. This gym where we are, this was his project, he never god to see it finished. The system hasn’t changed, but I miss my father. But what can we do about it? We have to accept it and keep moving forward. There’s no other choice. You either have to leave the sport or approach it responsibly. So I keep training as always, maybe even more than usual. But the system remains.
Will it feel like something’s missing without him? He would have been in Abu Dhabi with you.
Yes, of course. You know, when I signed the contract, I had 2 options. Either Vegas or Abu Dhabi. I chose Abu Dhabi, because my father could be present. So we signed the contract and then father passed away, but we couldn’t change the place.
You’re a famous superstar. What kind of person are you trying to be?
I’m certainly not living a superstar life. People around me in my village are not treating me like that. It may be important to some. I don’t like communicating with people like that, I’m a star, you’re not a star, that’s wrong in my opinion. I’m a common person, inside the gym I’m tough of course. Usman can confirm that (smile) and Umar could confirm that yesterday. Outside of the gym we have common human relationships. I have a lot of family and close friends around me. We’ve been close our whole life. I was born and grew up in this village, nothing has changed in 27 years, we’re sticking to our system.
But can you show you face in public?
Well I can in theory… But usually a lot of people gather and want to take pictures and autographs. I couple of weeks ago I met a friend for 15 minutes in a café. After 15 minutes there were 40-50 people outside waiting to take a picture. So I had to stand there 25 minutes taking picture with women and children.
Do you refuse?
95% of the time no.
How would you rate your current form?
65%, there is still 50 days before the fight. In that time I will reach optimal form. 24th of October I will try to finish my opponent. I have a goal of finishing him in 2-3 round.
Will it be an interesting fight?
For me it will be interesting to see how his ground game is. We’ve never seen that. Second when it comes to cardio, I think I’m twice the man he is. When it comes to striking, many people underestimate my striking, but during my 12 years of fighting professionally I never had a cut, a scratch or event a bruise. Justin Gaethje, we’ve seen him knocked out brutally two times, he take a lot of damage in his fights. But he’s a very tough fighter with good chin. I think though that I’m a better striker then him.
Many MMA fans often critique you for spending a lot of time wrestling with your opponents on the ground.
Because I don’t lose my fights the way that they’d like me to? Maybe it’s like that?
Look, the best aspect of my game is my ground game and my top control, why would I fight how fans want me to fight? I’m a dominating champion and have been in this game for 12 years. It has never happened in the history of this sport that a person that is competing for as long as I do, does it without losses. I think that my fight IQ is higher than people asking those questions why I fight this way or that way. It’s up to me to decide how I fight, and the fans can decide if they want to watch it or not.
That doesn’t matter to me at all. My fans will watch, my haters will watch as well because they hope they’ll see me loose. I have no issues with that.
I just go in there and do my thing. Everyone knows my game plan, let them try and stop me. There is certain excitement in that for the fans.
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Thank you for the translation. Just a correction though; Zubaira's fighting Sept. 27 in UFC 253, not in Oct. 27.
I agreed with almost everything Khabib said except this. If he hasn't recognized any changes in Gaethje from his recent fights, that is a bad fucking sign. Justin took almost no damage in the 3 fights leading up to Tony, and he showed excellent defense against Tony as well. Khabib is nowhere near the same level as Gaethje in the striking department.
But from the rest of the interview, it sounds like Khabib's still going to just stick to what he always does, so maybe striking won't even play a significant role at all depending on how well Gaethje does defending the TDs.
I agreed with almost everything Khabib said except this. If he hasn't recognized any changes in Gaethje from his recent fights, that is a bad fucking sign. Justin took almost no damage in the 3 fights leading up to Tony, and he showed excellent defense against Tony as well. Khabib is nowhere near the same level as Gaethje in the striking department.
But from the rest of the interview, it sounds like Khabib's still going to just stick to what he always does, so maybe striking won't even play a significant role at all depending on how well Gaethje does defending the TDs.
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Contender for "dumbest question to a fighter ever".
- No, it will be boring as fuck. Don't buy the PPV, don't watch me, just fuck off.
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Khabib goat bless
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"Everyone knows my game plan, let them try and stop me." is a bad ass quote.
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"To be honest I would myself put Jon Jones at #1 spot."
Well, that's a bummer for the ones that think of people having Jones as #1 as "trolls", right @FireKidWS
Well, that's a bummer for the ones that think of people having Jones as #1 as "trolls", right @FireKidWS
Who cares how much gaethje approach changed. Khabib isnt going there to slug it out with him like everyone else so non of that shit mattersThank you for the translation. Just a correction though; Zubaira's fighting Sept. 27 in UFC 253, not in Oct. 27.
I agreed with almost everything Khabib said except this. If he hasn't recognized any changes in Gaethje from his recent fights, that is a bad fucking sign. Justin took almost no damage in the 3 fights leading up to Tony, and he showed excellent defense against Tony as well. Khabib is nowhere near the same level as Gaethje in the striking department.
But from the rest of the interview, it sounds like Khabib's still going to just stick to what he always does, so maybe striking won't even play a significant role at all depending on how well Gaethje does defending the TDs.
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its ridiculous that he believes that he is a better striker than gaethje
he will be in for a rude awakening if he decides to stand with him for a round
he will be in for a rude awakening if he decides to stand with him for a round
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He legit said he ll do the same as usual, do people just read 25 per cent of interviews before talking?
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Fans of a certain retired Twitter queen
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he did tried to stand with al iaquinta so its not something he has never done before
and if he has this delusion of being the better striker then you never know
anyway what he does in the fight was not really my point
i was more pointing out how much he is underestimating gaethjes striking
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Well Khabib doesn't block punches with his face unlike Justin who takes a lot of damages in all of his fights, no matter how smart he thinks he is. Khabib is also not going to stay like a stationary target like gaethe and many of his opponents. I could see why he thinks he's a better striker than Gaethje, at least defensively.
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WOW
cant believe how far from reality some fanboys are
did you watched gaethjes last 3 fights? he almost took no damage in them and has clearly improved by leaps and bounds after the poirer loss if you cant even see that then i have nothing to say
the only reason khabib took less damage in his fights is because he is a great wrestler and took his opponents down before they could inflict much damage. it has nothing to do with him being a good striker because lets face it he is not
his biggest striking feat was landing a sloppy overhand against a gassed out of shape conor and even that didnt do much damage
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Thank you for the translation. Just a correction though; Zubaira's fighting Sept. 27 in UFC 253, not in Oct. 27.
I agreed with almost everything Khabib said except this. If he hasn't recognized any changes in Gaethje from his recent fights, that is a bad fucking sign. Justin took almost no damage in the 3 fights leading up to Tony, and he showed excellent defense against Tony as well. Khabib is nowhere near the same level as Gaethje in the striking department.
But from the rest of the interview, it sounds like Khabib's still going to just stick to what he always does, so maybe striking won't even play a significant role at all depending on how well Gaethje does defending the TDs.
Yeah, I hope Khabib doesn't decides to strike with him for 5 rounds. He will definitely not come out of the fight unbruised like he usually does if he decides to do that
.
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Even unmotivated Conor would ko Gaethje. Imagine what motivated Conor would do
