Javier Mendez Talks How Good Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Striking Is
Khabib Nurmagomedov is known for being more of a wrestler than a striker. However, according to his coach Javier Mendez, his striking is just as good.
Khabib has dominated 28 separate opponents inside of mixed martial arts. This has led to him a UFC lightweight title, with a defense against Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor. Moreover, it is high-intensity grappling style that has been too much for his opponents. He has used this grappling almost exclusively to win all his fights.
However, in a recent video from Khabib’s gym, American Kickboxing Academy, fans got a look into why this is the case. Khabib’s coach Javier Mendez opened up about why he is always telling Khabib to follow “Father’s Plan” to take his opponents down and dominate them.
“Never ever forget your best weapon, and that should always be your go-to weapon. I’ll just use Khabib in this case. His go-to weapon is the ground. I still, to this day, have yet to see somebody in the 155-pound division that can handle him in that area.
That’s why you always hear me say ‘father’s plan, father’s plan, father’s plan.’ Because I don’t want him deciding that he wants to stand with these guys, even though you guys know his stand up’s really good. We all know.”
Furthermore, Mendez explained just how good Khabib’s striking is.
“Everybody here knows how good Khabib’s stand up is. Because you guys have all seen it, But the real world doesn’t know how good it is because I don’t allow him to do it. And his father doesn’t allow him to do it.
Like he said to me, ‘Coach, you keep saying father’s plan, father’s plan. When are you gonna let me stand?’ I go, ‘I don’t know, we’ll see.’”
According to Javier Mendez, Khabib Nurmagomedov is almost as good a striker, as he is a grappler. Perhaps if he takes on Justin Gaethje, this might be on display.
