The former two-division champion has served as Nurmagomedov’s training partner for several years with both working out of the American Kickboxing Academy and more recently Cormier has been the wrestling coach for the undefeated Russian.
Over the past couple of months, Nurmagomedov has been in the middle of an intense training camp to prepare for his showdown against Tony Ferguson at UFC 249. After the fight was made and scrapped on four previous occasions, Nurmagomedov vs. Ferguson might be one of the most highly anticipated title bouts in UFC history.
According to Cormier, Nurmagomedov was treating his preparation with that kind of attitude as the lightweight champion seeks his third straight title defense, but perhaps more importantly, he gets the opportunity to vanquish arguably the toughest challenge of his entire career.