Xtreme Couture’s Eric Nicksick may be regarded as one of the best coaches in the sport but that doesn’t mean he’s not able to learn things from others in the same field.
Since making the decision to retire on top of the sport, former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has seamlessly transitioned into a coaching role.
Not only has he achieved a lot of success in the corner of other fighters, athletes will often share stories of how far coach Khabib will push people in training.
He appears to have taken up a similar coaching style to that of his late father, and if it worked for Abdulmanap, why fix what isn’t broken.
Eric Nicksick Recalls Key Lessons He Was Able To Take Away From Watching Khabib Nurmagomedov Coach
During a recent interview with Red Corner MMA, Nicksick reflected on what it was like getting to watch Nurmagomedov lead sessions at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas.
He reflected on one story in particular that showed him how professionalism is key to what they do alongside working hard in the gym.
“Those guys do it at the highest standard at the highest level. One of the funny things too was Belal Muhammad brought a guest that was not cleared by Khabib and then like Khabib was not happy about that and just like kind of made me realize like I sometimes open my doors too much and allow people to come and train that we don’t get vetted through the system.”
Nicksick went on to explain that Nurmagomedov walked a fine line between being actually annoyed by this scenario, whilst having fun with it at the same time.
“You could feel like he was joking but he wasn’t, he was serious about it and Belal was like, ‘Oh dude, I’m so sorry,’ you know, and he goes, ‘I don’t know who this guy is.’ Then like the best part is like Khabib and I are sitting here and he kind of looks at me and he’s like, ‘Yeah Eric, are you going to let a guy in your gym that you don’t know, maybe he’s fighting one of your guys,’ like just kind of punking Belal in front of everybody, it was funny. But obviously, Khabib let the guys still continue to train but there was a process to that.”
