Recently on the Real Quick with Mike Swick podcast, Javier Mendez spoke about two of his best known pupils; Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev.
Mendez has marshalled those Dagestani besties’ UFC careers ever since they arrived at his American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, CA. He saw Nurmagomedov develop into a UFC lightweight champion who, after securing a 29-0 record, stepped away from the cage last year.
Makhachev is currently surging up the UFC lightweight rankings with submission wins over Drew Dober and Thiago Moises this year. In October he’ll take on former champ Rafael dos Anjos.