City Kickboxing coach Eugene Bareman has lost respect for Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev.
Khabib retired from MMA competition with a perfect record of 29-0. He left as the unbeaten UFC Lightweight Champion. He is now focused on his Eagle FC promotion and helping train the likes of Makhachev.
Despite being away from the Octagon, Khabib has turned some heads as of late. On social media, Khabib blasted former foe Justin Gaethje for saying he’s more deserving of a UFC Lightweight Title shot than Makhachev.
Eugene Bareman Thinks Khabib & Makhachev Have Changed
Eugene Bareman was a guest on Submission Radio and he explained why he once had immense respect for Khabib and Makhachev.
“When I say used to, I still respect them a lot. The thing that I used to respect them, guys like Khabib and that, is they were purists. All they did was fight. Don’t worry about the media just get on with your job, fight. They come from very humble beginnings. They’re not very materialistic when they make a lot of money. They just keep training. They show up, they grind and they don’t care about the material possessions, flashy cars. All they wanna do is fight and their whole goal is to fight and their style reflects that. They don’t wanna be flashy. They want the best way to get to the win. A straight line from A to B and that’s what I used to respect about them and I used to love it.”
Bareman then said things have taken a turn and the two have been doing more trash talk than others.
“Now, the game has got to them as well. Khabib talks more shit about other fighters than anybody. I’m disappointed to see that because for me he was a guy that, ‘Oh man, this guy’s still a purist. That’s not a part of his DNA,’ but now he’s slagging off fighters and then Makhachev does the same. That never used to be a part of their culture, their culture in the sport. They had their own unique place in the sport. Now, they’re just like everybody else.”
Makhachev is scheduled for a pivotal lightweight clash against Beneil Dariush. That bout will be taking place on Feb. 26. Khabib Nurmagomedov has claimed the UFC promised Islam a title shot if he beats Dariush.
As for Bareman, he’s been quite busy at City Kickboxing. He has two world champions in Israel Adesanya and Alex Volkanovski. This Saturday night (Dec. 4), City Kickboxing’s Brad Riddell will take on Rafael Fiziev in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 44.
