MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to UFC Reigning Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov over a death of his father and coach Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.
Russia’s prominent mixed martial arts (MMA), sambo and wrestling coach Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov passed away earlier in the day at the age of 57.
Peskov said President Putin voiced his condolences to Khabib in a telephone conversation as soon as the news of his father’s death was reported earlier in the day.
In early September 2019, Putin held a personal meeting at the airport of Makhachkala in Dagestan with UFC Reigning Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and his father and coach Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov.
During that meeting Putin warmly greeted the young fighter and his father congratulating Khabib with the victorious defense fight of his UFC champion’s belt. The Russian president thanked Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov personally saying: "I would like to congratulate you on your son’s victory."
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 system.
News on Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov’s death
Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Russian republic of Chechnya, was the first to break the tragic news on Friday that Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov passed away.
"My friends, I have learnt sad news today that Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov passed away," Kadyrov stated on his Twitter account on Friday. "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.
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."
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.