Islam Makhachev is just weeks away from making the fourth defense of his lightweight title, and he's on the verge of breaking the 155-pound title defense record.
Kicking off the UFC's 2025 portion of PPVs is UFC 311 on January 18 with a huge lightweight main event between Islam Makhachev and Arman Tsarukyan.
The two first met in 2019 in Tsarukyan's UFC debut and after a loss, 'Ahalkalakets' rose up the lightweight rankings, earning a title shot.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Javier Mendez claims the collaboration with Khabib Nurmagomedov is 'a work in progress'
The Russian champion has built an extremely solid corner team, including Javier Mendez and former lightweight king Khabib Nurmagomedov.
'The Eagle' has cornered the 33-year-old on several occasions, but Mendez has claimed that their relationship as coaches is still a 'work in progress' and will continue to be ironed out.
The legendary MMA coach has confirmed that Nurmagomedov will be part of Makhachev's corner for UFC 311 and explained his role.
“It will be a combination of me and Khabib (who gives Islam advice in the corner). It cannot be fair (Khabib). It has to be from both of us because we have different things that we see, and we both have to give our opinions,” Mendez explained to Action Network.
On the few occasions that Mendez and Khabib have shared the responsibility of cornering the lightweight champion, Mendez has admitted that the former UFC champion has gone a “little bit crazy,” making it difficult for Mendez to realize his ideas.
“But the most important thing is that we have to let Khabib and I talk. At the very beginning, Khabib went a little crazy, and he wouldn't let me finish and said, 'Coach, how was it?' I would say, 'It was great, but you just wouldn't let me talk,'” Mendez continued.
“It's just a work in progress. I mean, he's such a great coach that it's just fun for me to watch him turn into one of the best coaches ever. I think it's incredible for me to see that with my own eyes,” he said.
Mendez explains what Khabib Nurmagomedov's role will be at UFC 311
The team faces an extremely busy night on January 18 as the co-main event is a bantamweight title fight between Merab Dvalishvili and Umar Nurmagomedov.
Umar has always been one of Mendez's most important students, but he is now passing most of the responsibility to Khabib and has explained the role 'The Eagle' will play at UFC 311.
“As far as having a semi-main and the main on top of that, I'm used to that. And on top of that, Khabib is now a very good coach and has taken over, so I'm kind of coming in as a supervisor.
'I am his mentor. I'm the coach, but he controls everything. You can't always take the lead role because they have to show their experience. I'm on the sidelines… I give Khabib advice all the time, but the control is now more his than me with these guys,” Mendez finished.
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