In a recent interview, Khabib Nurmagomedov addressed questions about a variety of issues, one of which was concerning his current weight.
In response to a reporter’s question about his current weight, Nurmagomedov smiled and inquired about the reporter’s weight. Nurmagomedov then joked that no one should ever enquire about a woman’s age or weight.
The reporter went on to say that while it’s common knowledge that asking a woman her age and weight is generally impolite, he was unaware that the same rule applies to wrestlers.
Nurmagomedov responded with the following statement, “Of course. You don’t even ask a wrestler’s age. And never ask about weight. I know wrestlers like Mr. Magomedov here. He just made the Olympic team. Ask him how the guys weigh in.”
Nurmagomedov continued, “No. I’ve weighed more. That was 2017 when I had back surgery. When I was given a fight on August 31st, I weighed at 203 pounds. Then on December 29th, I weighed 155. I weighed my most because when I had surgery, I couldn’t run or lift weights for 5-6 months. Now, I weigh a lot less.”
Nurmagomedov stated that his present weight is not his highest and that he weighed more around the time of his back surgery a few years ago.
Khabib Nurmagomedov’s transition to lightweight was difficult
Nurmagomedov has struggled to maintain his weight in the past. During his long and illustrious MMA career, Nurmagomedov has battled at both lightweight and welterweight divisions.
Despite this, Nurmagomedov spent his entire UFC career in the lightweight class. He did, however, fight in a handful of UFC catchweight contests. In April 2016, he fought Darrell Horcher at 160 pounds in one of his two UFC catchweight bouts after Horcher stepped in on short notice to replace the injured Tony Ferguson.
After that, Nurmagomedov fought Abel Trujillo in a catchweight match after missing weight for the fight. ‘The Eagle’ weighed in at 158.5 pounds, 2.5 pounds over the lightweight limit for a non-title bout. Regardless, he outclassed Trujillo and won the fight by unanimous decision.
During Nurmagomedov’s lightweight UFC tenure, there was a lot of talk in the MMA community about his problems with the lightweight limit. Although Nurmagomedov came close to missing weight on several occasions, the opinion is that he was able to shed the additional pounds and make weight.
Another prominent instance of Nurmagomedov’s weight-cut struggles occurred at UFC 209 in March 2017. Nurmagomedov was supposed to battle Tony Ferguson for the interim UFC lightweight title, but he had to withdraw.
Due to a botched weight cut, ‘The Eagle’ had a serious health scare and was hospitalised, preventing him from competing in UFC 209.
Nurmagomedov resigned from mixed martial arts (MMA) in October 2020 and has stated that he has no plans to compete in the sport again.
Read more: Former UFC champion Khabib not interested in making a comeback despite popularity among fans