UFC Fight Night 217's Umar Nurmagomedov says Khabib 'cannot go away' from coaching

LAS VEGAS – Umar Nurmagomedov won’t have Khabib in his corner at UFC Fight Night 217.

Nurmagomedov (15-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) faces Raoni Barcelos (17-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) in Saturday’s main card opener at the UFC Apex. The card streams on ESPN+.

Khabib Nurmagomedov, who along with Javier Mendez won MMA Junkie’s Coaches of the Year for 2022, recently announced that he’ll be stepping away from coaching. But his cousin, Umar, still expects to work with him and said all this means is that Khabib will be traveling less.

“This guy my brother and with me. He cannot go away,” Nurmagomedov told reporters, including MMA Junkie, at UFC Fight Night 217 media day. “I was calling him, talking to him about this fight, about cutting weight. This guy just stopping too much fly (traveling). When I go home, I’ll be training with him. I will go to his home and say to him, ‘Hey,let’s go to training.’ But even this guy is all the time training. He cannot stop.”

Nurmagomedov’s training partners, UFC champ Islam Makhachev and Bellator champ Usman Nurmagomedov, recently captured gold in their respective organizations. While the unbeaten prospect expects to have a similar career trajectory, he’s had a hard time finding opponents.

“I try. I tried to call guys, but nobody want to take this fight with me,” Nurmagomedov said. “I talk with Sean Shelby, I was taking with him, and he said, ‘Hey, I cannot find fight for you.’ And when they asked me if I would fight with Barcelos, I said, ‘Yes, I don’t care with who.’ Even if somebody will be doing their debut, I will fight. I want to be active.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 217.