Khabib Nurmagomedov's coach reveals why the Dagestani occasionally deviated from 'Father's Plan' and "didn't listen a lot of the times"

Khabib Nurmagomedov's game plan heading into fights was always described as 'Father's Plan.' The approach entailed sticking to his strengths as a grappler by intelligently pursuing takedowns and being defensively aware. It was a strategy that required tremendous discipline to follow.

While Nurmagomedov is the most famous follower of this approach to fighting, he isn't the only one. The late great Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov was a coach to many fighters, including reigning UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev. Unfortunately, not everyone followed his game plan to the letter.

According to AKA founder Javier Mendez, however, there is a reason behind the occasional Dagestani abandonment of 'Father's Plan.' On his own YouTube podcast, Mendez spoke (at 11:34 minutes) about the time when Khabib Nurmagomedov deviated from the strategy during his win over Edson Barboza:

"Khabib doesn't listen a lot of the times, but when he does listen, he does exactly what he's supposed to do because you gotta understand, Khabib was always, 'Oh, he can't strike, he can't this.' So he stands with these guys to show them he can, so he doesn't go to Father's Plan, which was what I wanted to do always."

So it seems like Nurmagomedov and others of the same style are sometimes overcome by a desire to prove how well-rounded they are as fighters. Thus, they sometimes deviate from their wrestling-heavy game plans in order to spend extended time on the feet, striking with dangerous foes.

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Khabib Nurmagomedov's dream fight

There aren't many fighters that Khabib Nurmagomedov has longed to face during his unbeaten run in the UFC. One of the fighters he yearned to face but never did was MMA great Georges St-Pierre. According to 'The Eagle', the Canadian legend was one of his father's favorite fighters.

The elder Nurmagomedov dreamed of a fight between the two. Unfortunately, despite interest from both 'The Eagle' and 'Rush', the bout never came to fruition. The UFC showed little interest, especially if it involved St-Pierre challenging for the lightweight strap after he had, at the time, recently vacated the middleweight title.

Furthermore, at the time, the promotion still hoped to book a money-making rematch between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor.