Why Khabib's father had him compete in every combat sport

Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

1. 1:01:10

   Kala in the 1999, let's say, the end of 1999. So we were many brothers, more than 10 of us. We lived in one house. Some were in school, some in college, some in university. But we all had one routine. We trained in the morning, then went to school. We'd come home, rest, do homework, then train in the evening, come home, and rest. Without mothers, just by ourselves. Father gathered everyone. He took in close friends and family, his nephews, cousins, relatives, those who didn't have a father, and so on.

2. 1:01:47

   He took them in. And we all lived in one house. We cooked, cleaned, did laundry all by ourselves. It was like, well, some kind of army life, you know. And when the brothers had some problems, let's say, misunderstandings. we didn't go easy on those guys and even those who lived around there near that house in that district in the settlement everyone knew that there were lots of brothers living there so they had to be careful and we had a football field there it was right in front of the house and everyone who came to play there we constantly had fights there misunderstandings. They were older brothers. They were always watching us, keeping us from trouble.

3. 1:02:40

   Don't do this, don't do that, watch your mouth. But we had our own little group. The age difference between us was maybe two, three years. There were five or six of us. We'd always go outside and play football. If our team was losing, then the game would just turn into a whole different sport. and that's how we were growing up. We spent six, seven years there, almost 10 years. We were living together, growing, training. A lot has happened over that time. But I was never, well, maybe just a couple of times, okay? Mostly I was never the initiator of fights, with some exceptions. I just remember since childhood, my father always told me, you don't need to use force on the street.

4. 1:03:37

   My father looked at all of this in a completely different way. What is your understanding of the difference between the street fight and sports? There is a very big difference. I saw many fights where if you put those same guys into sparring in wrestling MMA or combat sample one guy could beat the other very easily but the street is completely different there are no rules no referees no points you just fight there and it's totally different I can say I actually had a major turning point in my life. Let's say the one that in terms of psychology really changed my whole attitude towards MMA. Back in 2002, 2003, my father kept me in wrestling.

5. 1:04:40

   He trained MMA, combat sambo, but wanted me to stay in wrestling. My cousin, who was older than me by a couple of months. He was training with my father. His freestyle wrestling was weak, so my father sent him to me, to the place where I was training. It was called the School of Higher Sports Mastery. The local guys from the city know this place. He came to practice and got into it with a guy in our gym, who was heavier, maybe one class heavier. This guy was the best in his weight, winning Dagestan and the city too. So they got into a conflict, they were arguing. My brother had just joined, he was new to our freestyle wrestling gym, right? But I knew the other guy well. They paired up and they got into it. Well, that's my brother, right?

6. 1:05:41

   So the guy goes, let's meet up after. And they agreed, as we say, to step outside after the training. I remember it was raining heavily. A real downpour. The guy brought his brother, I came with mine. We went outside and they started fighting. One on one. I remember he shot in, lifted and took him down. Abdurrahman, my brother, threw up a triangle and he choked him out. When we went out, I was thinking Abdurrahman will lose to this guy. I even visualized it happening.

7. 1:06:22

   The whole thing, like this guy beats him and then I start fighting. Well, I'm not going there for my brother to lose. In my head, I was getting into a fight, but he threw him locked up in a triangle. For the first time, I saw with my own eyes how someone chokes another person with a triangle and they lose consciousness. They fought, he put him to sleep. We had to pull them apart, me and other guys.

8. 1:06:54

   Fights over, Abdurrahman won, and on the way home, I'm like, Abdurrahman, wow, you impressed me. I came home and immediately told my father. I said, that was in 2002 or 2003, if I'm not mistaken. I am 14 years old. I said, I'm switching to combat sambo. I said, what Abdurrahman did, the one he choked out is not just anyone in the gym, he's one of the best wrestlers, but he couldn't do anything. My father said, you'll go to wrestling, but you'll come to me, I'll teach you, you'll learn techniques here, and so on. But I want you to gain wrestling skills. I started going three days to train with my father, three days to wrestling. And at that moment, I realized that no matter how strong the wrestler is. Lying on the back is where the wrestling normally ends, but MMA only begins there. And I was like, I thought, I need this. I need this mixed style.

9. 1:08:00

   I realized this was for me. I started going to my father's trainings, despite that he didn't let me. He didn't want me to do fighting. I think most people don't know this. My father wanted me to do freestyle wrestling or judo but in my head i already had this mixed style i always wanted to compete i was already getting tapes to watch i always wanted to compete where there are no rules where i could fully use my skills maximum freedom yes judo sambo freestyle grappling jujitsu more people knew jujitsu than grappling after that i switched and from there my journey slowly started which i had already begun that's when i started the amateur journey then when i started getting good results as an amateur i realized that i can switch to pro and achieve success symbol in combat symbol combat symbol

10. 1:08:59

    i competed in all kinds of sports everything that involves wrestling and fighting i competed everywhere i competed in freestyle in judo in grappling in combat sambo. I competed in sports sambo, in hand-to-hand combat, in pancreation. My father put me in all competitions. He would say, you have a competition here and another one there. Now you are preparing for this one. You will compete in this weight, under these rules, in this sport. And he was sending me everywhere. He would tell me, you will need this in the future.

11. 1:09:33

    The more competition experience you have, the more relaxed and confident you'll feel. It builds up over time. When I was young, I was losing as well. I go to a judo competition, win two matches and lose two matches. I would ask, father, why are you sending me there? This is not my sport. And he'd say, no, go and compete. So, okay, I went, I cut weight. The next day you come in, you see 50 competitors in your weight class. You let this weight, this competitive energy pass through you and psychologically you get better, better, better each time you become more relaxed about it. And this moment really affected me. Although then I didn't agree with my father. Back then I thought, why should I compete in other sports? He said, you can wrestle, right? Well, go wrestle. I was saying, but judo isn't my sport. It's hard for me there. He says,

12. 1:10:32

    Well, you went on four times. Look, you won twice, then lost twice. You competed four times. You're 15 years old. You're just developing. Do you know how valuable this experience is for you? Four matches in one day. Now, when I'm coaching, I understand the psychological approach, how important it is. I realize now how correctly he prepared me for the big stage. The preparation was already happening then, when I was 15 years old.

13. 1:11:07

    For example, when I went into the biggest fight in combat sports history, when I fought in 2018, here in Las Vegas. At that point, I was already at my peak, prime time. I was 30 years old. I went through all possible competitions as an amateur and a professional. and you know what? I was ready. This preparation, it started back then when I was 15. It's not like they give you a fight and you prepare for two months.

14. 1:11:43

    Preparation starts long before you even step into the octagon. So this experience of competitions which started at 15, it continued, it expanded. Yeah, of course. So can you explain what was going on in your head