As a fighter, former UFC champion and recent Hall of Fame inductee Khabib Nurmagomedov is as stoic as they come. The only time he publicly showed some emotions happened right after he defeated Justin Gaethje at UFC 249 two years ago.
But as he told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto after UFC 280 over the weekend, he was overrun by nerves during Islam Makhachev’s title fight with Charles Oliveira in the main event.
“Very nervous. Because, brother, like, I watch (Islam) all his life last 20 years, the way how we work so hard. Amateur career, professional career.