“I am very proud to represent Dagestan,” the Russian said in another edition of his video blog dedicated to the UFC 294 tournament. “Before Khabib won the title, not many people knew about Dagestan. I am inspiring the people of Dagestan by simply following my dream, training hard every day to remain the UFC champion”
“I’ve been training with Khabib since I was a kid and it’s very challenging. The rounds with him helped me to become better because if you train hard, the fight becomes easy. My coach Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov used to tell everyone that Khabib would become champion and when he retired, I would come and take the belt”
“The previous fight with Volkanovski was the hardest fight of my life, because it was the first time I fought five rounds in my life. But I was throwing really hard punches, moving him around, taking his back. Ask him: what did you do to win that fight? Some people say the fight was close because they only saw the last minute. But people who understand MMA know that I won by unanimous decision.”
As a reminder, the title rematch between Islam Makhachev and Alex Volkanovski will headline this weekend’s UFC 294 event in Abu Dhabi.