Video: Khabib Nurmagomedov broke cousin Abubakar’s computer for gaming with Demetrious Johnson more than he trained

Val Dewar

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Video: Khabib Nurmagomedov broke cousin Abubakar’s computer for gaming with Demetrious Johnson more than he trained image

Demetrious Johnson’s YouTube channel is hitting big numbers even after his retirement, a trend set to continue after his latest video featured a training session with fellow GOAT Khabib Nurmagomedov as well as his star pupil/friend who inherited his UFC lightweight throne, Islam Makhachev. 

The GOAT of flyweight mixed martial arts recently met up with members of the Eagles MMA team, founded by the legend Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, for a training and recording session. 

Among the other athletes present were upcoming UFC bantamweight title challenger Umar Nurmagomedov, #11 flyweight contender Tagir Ulanbekov, and Olympic silver medalist wrestler Magomedkhabib Kadimagomedov. 

After the training session, the champions got to talking, and ‘The Eagle’ poked fun at ‘Mighty Mouse’ for playing video games with their cousin Abubakar when he should be training. 

“Because of you, you take him all the time to game, he lose one fight,” Khabib said. “I remember this.”

Abubakar Nurmagomedov lost two times in the UFC, to David Zawada in 2019 and Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos in 2023

“Me and Abubakar used to be like this,” Demetrious explained, indicating closeness with his fingers. “But now I haven't seen him play in a long time.”

“Because we break his computer,” Nurmagomedov replied in a typically nonchalant manner. “I know you think we joking, but really.”

Johnson could not help but laugh incredulously. 

Abubakar has long been infamous for being the slacker of the family crew because of his gaming habit, or so Khabib has said in the past.

This may be a comedic story for Johnson’s YouTube channel, but nobody who knows the Nurmagomedov clan can really be surprised by this. 

The brutal way Khabib trained as a youth in the brutal Caucasus Mountain winters of his native Dagestan under his father Abdulmanap is the way he expects all his students to train now, and many of his students are his family. 

Abubakar has been seen at the mercy of this hardcore mentality in the past, too, such as a video from a training session  at AKA where Khabib kept him locked in a cryogenic therapy chamber while cousin Abubakar begged to be set free.

Khabib will be the head coach in the corner of two of his top pupils, Islam Makhachev and cousin Umar Nurmagomedov, as they defend and challenge for the UFC lightweight and bantamweight titles respectively on January 18th, 2025 in Los Angeles at UFC 311.

As for 35-year-old Abubakar Nurmagomedov, he was released from the UFC in 2023 with a 2-2 promotional record following his loss to Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos and has not fought since. 

Val Dewar

Val Dewar Photo

Val was initiated into Steelers Nation from the moment he was born — his first memory is a game vs. New England from when "Slash" was QB — and doing sports writing has always been a dream career for him. In 2022 he broke into the industry by writing about combat sports for Cageside Press, and now has the opportunity to continue that work with TSN as an MMA writer, as well as get his feet wet on the Steelers beat.