MAKHACHKALA, July 3. /TASS/. Russia’s prominent mixed martial arts (MMA) coach Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, who is also a coach and father of UFC Reigning Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, has passed away at the age of 57, Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Russian republic of Chechnya, announced on Friday.

"My friends, I have learnt sad news today that Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov passed away," Kadyrov wrote on his Twitter account. "On behalf of all people of Chechnya, I extend my sincere condolences to the family of Abdulmanap Magomedovich [Nurmagomedov]."

"He parted with us having left behind his good name and having brought up a decent generation," the Chechen leader added.

Khabib Nurmagomedov said on June 22 that his father Abdulmanap remained in a critical condition in an emergency ward of a hospital in Moscow.

Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov was hospitalized earlier in the year after he had been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus. He was initially taken to a hospital in the Russian capital with a case of a severe pneumonia and after being diagnosed with a case of the novel coronavirus he suffered a stroke and then spent a week on the life support systems.

Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin also expressed his condolences shortly after the news about Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov’s death broke out.

"On behalf of the Russian Sports Ministry and myself personally, I express my deepest condolences to the family and relatives of Abdulmanap Magomedovich Nurmagomedov," the Russian Sports Ministry’s press service quoted Matytsin as saying in a statement.

"A prominent coach and a wise mentor, who brought up numerous champions in combat sambo and in wrestling, has passed away," Matytsin stated. "Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov devoted all of his his life to training high-class athletes and the popularization of the sports of the martial arts, which helped his son Khabib Nurmagomedov to achieve great success in the sphere of the mixed martial arts."

Magomed Magomedov, the sports minister of the Russian republic of Dagestan, said that Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov’s death was a great loss not only for the republic of Dagestan, but on the nationwide level as well.

"Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov is the master of sports in sambo, freestyle wrestling; and he was also in charge of the Sambo Federation in Dagestan," Magomedov said. "It’s a great loss not only for the republic of Dagestan but the country of Russia on the whole."

"He was one of the most generous, clever, educated specialist as one of the most merited ones," the sports chief of Dagestan said adding that Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov raised a generation of new Russian athletes, including his son Khabib Nurmagomedov.

UFC Reigning Champ Khabib Nurmagomedov

In early September last year, Khabib Nurmagomedov defended his UFC champion’s belt for the second time in a title unification bout in Abu Dhabi against Dustin Poirier of the United States. The Russian defeated his US opponent with a choke in Round 3.

The 31-year-old Russian fighter, nicknamed ‘The Eagle,’ currently holds an unblemished record of 28 wins in all of his mixed martial arts fights (8 by KOs, 10 by submission and 10 by decision).

Khabib Nurmagomedov, hailing from Russia’s North Caucasus Region of Dagestan, was the first Russian to win the UFC champion title during the fight against his US opponent Al Iaquinta in the spring of 2018.

On April 8, 2018, Nurmagomedov defeated Al Iaquinta in a five-round fight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight belt in New York.

At the UFC 229 tournament in Las Vegas in October 2018, Nurmagomedov defended his champion’s title in the fight against Conor McGregor, a renowned Irish professional mixed martial arts fighter and boxer.