Islam Makhachev may have picked up where the great Khabib Nurmagomedov left off with dominating the lightweight division, but his legacy has also been continued by his own family.
There are a lot of parallels in the careers of Khabib and his younger cousin Umar Nurmagomedov.
Both have been incredibly dominant inside the Octagon but during their climbs, were held back by injuries and issues with finding opponents.
Eventually, “The Eagle” was undeniable and proved himself to be a top-tier lightweight and that’s what happened in the bantamweight division with Umar this past weekend.
His win over Cory Sandhagen means that just like Islam and his cousin before him, he’s arrived at the top at long last.
Javier Mendez Says Khabib Was A Better Grappler But Umar Nurmagomedov Is Already A Better Striker
In a recent interview with The Schmo, AKA head coach Javier Mendez was asked to compare Umar and Khabib as fighters, given where the undefeated 135-pound contender is at right now.
Mendez is very high on Umar’s potential and went on to say that with Islam being four years older than him, Khabib’s cousin could go on to claim the position of being the number 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world at some stage.
He spoke about what separates the two cousins, by running down which one has the edge in terms of their skill set and toughness.
“Well as far as skills at this juncture of their careers, that’s a tough one you hit me with. I would say that Khabib’s ground is still top notch. Umar’s ground is great but Khabib was just another level but again, Khabib’s stand up wasn’t up to where Umar’s is on par. But, as far as their mental, their mental is fairly comparable. Khabib’s chin’s granite, I’ve never seen anybody have a chin like Khabib. Umar has got a great chin as he proved from the last fight when he got dropped and he was able to go for the takedown as he was being dropped but I guess the chin level would have to go with Khabib but the mental toughness, I think they’re pretty equal, mental toughness. I mean Umar is a tough customer man.”
