Daniel Cormier and Khabib Nurmagomedov should have their own sitcom! Between the large, massive, talkative, big mouth American and the dry, surgical, cold, respectful yet quite chatty Russian, the flow between them is always strong.
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As training partners in the prestigious American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose (California) under Javier Mendez’s guidance, the two UFC champions love each other. It has to be said that despite their very different backgrounds, they have a lot of things in common.
Both of the high-level fighters, despite having very different styles, are undeniable champions in their categories, number 1 and 2 on the UFC ranking out of all categories, should be the types to respect their opponents and not trash talk them too much…
An old couple that love to bicker
For years, the insider I Am the Bay, one of AKA’s coaches, regularly posts videos of their sparring sessions and their life between fights. And for a few weeks, Khabib and Cormier, who have both been at training camps to defend their belt (DC against Stipe Miocic, Nurmagomedov against Dustin Poirier), love to squabble.
Recently, we’ve seen them get muddled up over a vulgar story about a sandwich. But this time, Cormier touched on quite a sensitive subject when talking to The Eagle about his biggest rival and enemy Conor McGregor.
‘Hey man, you can’t say his name. He does not deserve you saying his name.’ And Khabib didn’t find that very funny.
When DC tried to make Khabib like McGregor
Despite his friend having irritated him, Daniel Cormier tried to make him realise that he has to recognise that McGregor does have some qualities, particularly his impressive victory against Eddie Alvarez.
‘This guy, this is important. Okay? You smashed this guy, but now, this guy is the first double champion. This guy killed Alvarez. Hey Khabib, Khabib… This guy killed Alvarez. 27 million Instagram followers!’
‘Let me ask you a question, even though you don’t like this guy, you respect that this guy do some good things? He do good things sometimes in the octagon!’ But Nurmagomedov won’t back down and won’t say anything positive about his biggest rival that won the UFC 229.
