When former UFC lightweight champion and pound-for-pound king Khabib Nurmagomedov exited the Octagon for the final time in 2020, he revealed a promise to his parents that he would never return. The only place left to go was immortality.
Nurmagomedov (29-0) was announced on Saturday in front of the live crowd at UFC 272 in Las Vegas as the headliner of the 2022 induction class of the UFC Hall of Fame. The 33-year-old native of Dagestan, Russia, will enter the modern era wing during a ceremony set for Las Vegas in early July during the 10th annual International Fight Week.
A dominant grappler who made his UFC debut in 2012, Nurmagomedov won all 13 of his trips to the Octagon, including three defenses of the 155-pound title he won by outpointing Al Iaquinta for the vacant belt at UFC 223. Nurmagomedov also headlined four UFC pay-per-view cards to close out his decorated career and took part in a record-breaking event opposite bitter rival Conor McGregor in 2018 that produced a reported 2.4 million PPV buys.
Nurmagomedov, despite missing two full years due to a knee injury following his 2014 destruction of future champion Rafael dos Anjos, went on to become the first UFC fighter to retire as unbeaten champion. At the time of his sudden retirement, Nurmagomedov's name was instantly added to the sport's G.O.A.T. conversation alongside the likes of Jon Jones, Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre.
Watch as @TeamKhabib finds out about his UFC Hall of Fame induction LIVE at #UFC272 🦅
— UFC (@ufc) March 6, 2022
[ #UFCHOF | Hall of Fame Presented by @ToyoTires ] pic.twitter.com/SQIUSMPdCp
Nicknamed "The Eagle," the mentally tough Nurmagomedov fought the majority of top names available to him within the historically deep lightweight division he reigned over, including RDA, Edson Barboza, McGregor, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje. Five separate times, UFC attempted to book Nurmagomedov into fights against Tony Ferguson, including three for at least a piece of the UFC lightweight title, only for injuries to both and bad luck routinely preventing it.
Fighting out of American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California, Nurmagomedov was trained by Javier Mendez and, beginning at age 8, his father Abdulmanap, who died from COVID-19 complications in 2020 at 57.
Upon his retirement, Nurmagomedov picked up where his late father left off by serving as second coach in the corner of many top fighters from his native Dagestan, including top UFC lightweight prospect Islam Makhachev, and Nurmagomedov's cousins, Umar and Usman. Nurmagomedov also serves as the head of his own MMA promotion, Eagle FC, which made its U.S. debut earlier this year.
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