哈比卜·努尔马戈梅多夫：达吉斯坦、MMA、UFC、伊斯兰、康纳、费多尔与足球

• The following is a conversation with Khabib Nurmagomedov, one of the greatest fighters of all time, who retired from the UFC undefeated with a perfect twenty-nine and O record. It was a huge honor for me to meet him, to train together, and to have this deep conversation. We had this conversation entirely in Russian. This was my first time doing so on this podcast. And even these words I'm saying right now are spoken in Russian.

So if you're hearing me in English, you're actually listening to the English dub. On YouTube, you can switch between language audio tracks by clicking the settings gear icon, then clicking audio track, and then selecting the language you prefer. For the original Russian version, select Russian. And for the English dub, select English. Subtitles are also available in both languages. The translation and dubbing are a collaborative effort of translators, real human beings, including myself and AI.

Thanks to the incredible team at ElevenLabs for their help. And now, please allow me to take this moment to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for your love and support all these years. I love you all. This is the Lex Fridman Podcast. And now, dear friends, here's Khabib Nurmagomedov. Let's try in Russian if we can, like you suggested. - I can help you out if you need. - Yeah, thanks, brother. I kind of feel it in my heart and soul, but sometimes I can't find the right words. - I know, brother.

We got this. - Great. Let's start from the beginning. So that gym back in Dagestan where you trained is legendary for its spartan conditions. There was just one shower for seventy people, only cold water. And yet, this humble little gym managed to raise more than twenty world champions, including several UFC champions. Can you try to explain or maybe reflect on what factors in that gym, those training sessions, that life in Dagestan created so many champions? - Sure.

So we're talking about the gym, the one located in Makhachkala. And Makhachkala, for the people who don't know, it's the capital of Dagestan. This was back around the years from two thousand to two thousand and ten, and even later on. In twenty nineteen, we opened up a big gym, a major facility that is still functioning to this day. But before twenty nineteen, we all actually trained in that gym where there was practically nothing.

It was just a school gym with nothing but mats, a single punching bag, one climbing rope, and a kind of indoor basketball court. And if we go even further back, before two thousand, before we moved to Makhachkala, we lived in a village. In the village, we had a gym right inside our house. My father, he built a gym at home, and he was training all the local village kids right there. And there were times back when I was a child, let's say when I was maybe six or seven years old, I would occasionally wake up to the sound of, people training, doing their drills right there in the gym.

You know, like with judo or freestyle when they're drilling, one guy throwing another. Those are my first conscious memories. I was maybe five, six, seven years old at that time. So my father set up this gym in the village and trained local kids, including me, my older brother, and all our close and distant relatives, anyone who wanted to come. A lot of kids came to him. - So you would wake up and there are these sounds. - Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. You hear the hitting, the throwing over and over. And my father's voice, how he's shouting, giving instructions, pushing someone, coaching, teaching. I lived with those sounds. But that was in the village. And later when we moved to Makhachkala, well, you couldn't say the gym there was wow either. There were only mats. And of course, the most valuable thing an athlete can have, a coach, my father. So he trained us there.

And to be honest, let's say, until I became a champion and had big success, we never had a good big gym where we could, you know, all take a shower together at the same time after training. We always had just one shower for everyone, no proper amenities. - So your life story began in the mountains of Dagestan in Sildi, then Kirovaul, and then Makhachkala. And in all these situations, there are very interesting stories.

But one of the things I heard you say is that the best results are born out of the worst conditions. What can you say about that? Philosophically, is it correct to say that comfort is kind of the enemy for champions? - It depends on the sport. For example, let's say in football, you have to have conditions. You can't really play if there is practically no field. Of course, you can play in the dirt, and it happens sometimes.

You can start there. But when you are ten or twelve years old, you already have to be at a certain level. You must have conditions. But if we look at our sport, then what is the most important thing? The coach. You also need sparring partners who will push you in the gym, as they say, right? And you need the mats. Our sport is not expensive. You just buy your wrestling shoes, singlets, shorts, a T-shirt. And if there's a mat, you wrestle, you become a champion, you fight.

But when you live too well, let's say, you know, you're never in need. For example, you were born into a wealthy family and you already have everything. Would that same wealthy father, would he force you to do such a brutal sport? A sport where you come home every day with injuries where you come home with an exhausted body, you come home with bruises. Would he really do that? That's the question. And the kid himself, who lives a life of luxury, would he even want to do this?

When we look at it statistically, the answer is no. This is where you need that hunger. You have to be in a position where you are truly in need. - And it's interesting that there's a psychological side to this as well, that you need a tough situation to create champions. But what's really interesting is how Dagestan has produced so many wrestling champions. You mentioned football. Let's look at other countries. Why has Brazil produced so many great football players?

Why does Argentina have so many football players? Of course, you have Germany, France, and all that. - European, yeah. - The whole European side. But those are completely different cultures. - Yes. Well, in Brazil, their strength is in their numbers. How many people do they have? The population is huge, more than two hundred million. And people really love it there. It's a huge tradition. Because, you know, without a real love for this sport, you can never achieve any success.

You truly have to love what you are doing. So they have the tradition and they have the love for it, and that is why they play for all the top clubs. Well, I think they just win by numbers. - Yeah, that's a powerful aspect of their culture. How much people, how much the whole nation loves to play football. And if you add to that a system that creates strong teams, that's how you can produce so many football legends. - Yes.

Take Dagestan, for example. We love football. I just know how much people in Dagestan love football. Yes, we have wrestlers, fighters. There are many of us. But for football players, there is no ecosystem like that. Not so well organized where a kid can, for example, play at school, then go to some academy, then get noticed there, and then get picked up by a club. We don't have that system. It's just kids running on the streets, playing on the streets, following football.

Let's say playing on PlayStation. There is no system. There is no selection process where kids can go and show themselves, so they can be noticed and get signed. I think Brazil and other countries, and of course Europe, they have it. So yeah, we have big problems with football. However, in our sports where you can, where you can wrestle, where you can fight, in that sense, we have a system. For example, the gyms, you know, in Makhachkala, let's say for combat sports.

I'm not even counting like freestyle