Khabib Nurmagomedov's wrestling secrets laid bare by MMA journalist: "A complete reordering of a lot of grappling principles"

An MMA journalist recently laid out why he believes Khabib Nurmagomedov's wrestling was the secret behind his success in the octagon. As per him, Kh had the skillset to cause anybody problems, regardless of their background discipline.

After successfully defending the UFC lightweight title for a third time with a win over Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in 2020, 'The Eagle' shocked fans by calling time on his octagon career. The Dagestani fighter bowed out of competition undefeated (29-0) in order to transition into coaching and left a legacy as one of the greatest fighters to have ever graced the sport.

Since hanging up his gloves, many fighters with wrestling backgrounds have been judged against Nurmagomedov, with the same such conversation recently being made for UFC 312's co-main event between Zhang Weili and Tatiana Suarez.

Suarez, who was competing for the UFC women's strawweight title for the first time, is a multi-time medalist at the wrestling World Championships. She was then expected to dominate Weili in the wrestling and grappling exchanges, however, the champion made the adjustments after the first round to neutralize Suarez's wrestling for the rest of the fight.

MMA journalist Luke Thomas was then asked by a fan about Suarez's performance on his YouTube channel, with the fan wanting to know why Khabib Nurmagomedov was so successful at implementing his wrestling compared to others. Thomas explained:

"Khabib came along and he just blended the two [wrestling and judo]. He would have double legs, single legs, hip attacks, leg attacks he'd also have trips and throws. He would chain it between everything and just had advanced techniques...He used all of that for effective ground and pound and setting up submissions the whole time...What he represents is a complete reordering of a lot of grappling principles."

Check out Luke Thomas' analysis here (1:19:50):

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Khabib Nurmagomedov praised Islam Makhachev for UFC 311 performance

Islam Makhachev recently defended the lightweight title for a record-breaking fourth time in a row when he defeated Renato Moicano at UFC 311. The champion accepted the short-notice bout against the Brazilian and showed his talent as he submitted Moicano in the first round.

Following Makhachev's win, Khabib Nurmagomedov took to Instagram to express his praise, labeling the lightweight kingpin as the best fighter in the world. He wrote:

"Had a rough night last night as I expected. @islam_makhachev has once again proven that he is the best in the world right now, and I am very happy for him and the journey he has taken in this sport, in the history of mixed martial arts, very few fighters have achieved what he has achieved. Keep working my brother, this is not the limit 👊"

Check out Khabib Nurmagomedov's post here: