UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, one of the world’s most popular Muslim athletes, retired Saturday with a shinning record, becoming one of the best in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) history.
“Today, I want to say, this was my last fight,” Nurmagomedov said Saturday after defending his lightweight championship for a third time on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, CBS Sports reported.
“I’m the UFC undisputed, undefeated champion with a 13-0 record [in UFC], and 29-0 in all of my pro MMA career,” he added.
📚 Read Also: 7 Great Muslim Male Athletes in Martial Arts
At the age of 57, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, the father of undefeated UFC lightweight champion, passed away earlier this year to coronavirus.
Over the past years, he has played a large part in his son’s successful mixed martial arts career.
Saturday’s victory against Justin Gaethje in the second round of UFC 254 ran Nurmagomedov’s record as a professional to 29-0.
“No way am I going to come here without my father. It was the first time, after what happened with my father, when UFC called me about Justin. I talked with my mother three days ago. She didn’t want me to fight without my father. I promised her, it’s going to be my last fight, and if I give my word, I have to follow this. It was my last fight here,” Nurmagomedov added.
Roots & Start
Khabib Abdulmanapovich Nurmagomedov or ‘Habib Abdulmanap Nur Mohamed’ in Arabic is not only the UFC’s first Muslim champion, but he holds the longest undefeated streak in MMA with 29 wins.
The 32-year-old Nurmagomedov, a married father of a daughter and a son, is a Muslim Avar from the Islamic Republic of Dagestan, located in the North Caucasus with more than 83% of the country’s population being adherents to Islam, according to ARENA Project’s 2012 survey.
The world’s Muslim champion, who speaks several languages including Avaric, Arabic, Turkish, Russian, and English, was born in the remote village of Sildi in Tsumadinsky District.
He usually wears a papakha, a traditional sheepskin hat worn by Dagestanis and other Caucasian peoples.
In October 2019, he said that Allah “the Almighty” would not look approvingly on his violence in the octagon.
Earlier in April 2018 Nurmagomedov explained that “there is nothing else more important to me than being clear with Allah. And being clear with Allah is the No.1 hardest thing in life.