Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov (r) with his son at UFC Fight Night 163
in Moscow last November. (Valery Sharifulin/TASS via Getty
Images)
Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, father of Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight
champion Khabib
Nurmagomedov and a prominent figure in combat sports in his
native Dagestan, has passed away in Moscow at age 57.
On Friday morning, Russian news agency TASS was
the first to report the news, based on a Telegram post by Ramzan Kadyrov, Head of the Chechen
Republic. According to the reports, Nurmagomedov’s father
contracted COVID-19 in his homeland in April, then was moved to a
military hospital in Moscow, where he underwent heart bypass
surgery. Shortly afterward, doctors placed him in a
medically-induced coma and connected him to a life support machine.
His condition deteriorated after a few days in which he was
conscious and able to breathe on his own. Eventually, he died due
to some health complications.
The reports are consistent with the periodic updates from
the champion himself, who has stated that the COVID-19 pandemic
has impacted multiple members of his family. The worrying situation
led Nurmagomedov to rush to Russia in late March while training to
defend his belt against at UFC 249.
The elder Nurmagomedov, a renowned trainer of MMA fighters and
sambo practitioners, cornered his son in most of his fights, with
the exception of those which took place in the United States, due
to difficulties obtaining a visa. He was, however present at his
son’s latest Octagon appearance at UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi, when “The
Eagle” reunified the UFC’s lightweight championship with a
third-round submission of interim champ Dustin
Poirier. He also accompanied his son to the meeting in which he
was congratulated by Russian president Vladimir Putin after
defeating Conor
McGregor in October 2018.