“Going undefeated in his career”–Javier Mendez Gives His Honest Take On The Striking Prowess Of Khabib Nurmagomedov

Khabib Nurmagomedov and Javier Mendez

Khabib Nurmagomedov has been established as one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time. Going undefeated in his career, Nurmagomedov was mostly known for his incredible grappling. However, according to his coach, Javier Mendez, ‘The Eagle’ also had an awesome striking. But alas! Since the Dagestani had a premature retirement, the world will not be able to see the full extent of his striking.

Speaking on the ‘Overdogs Podcast’ recently, Mendez opined that Nurmagomedov also had great striking. In fact, he put off the most elite strikers while in training. Now, this could be fathomed from the manner in which ‘The Eagle’ showed glimpses. Fighting against Conor McGregor, Khabib took him down with a clean overhand. Moreover, he also had a great striking game with Dustin Poirier despite having a broken foot.

“He(Khabib) was beating up everybody in stand-up at the gym. All the killers, he destroyed them all in stand-up. All of them,” said Mendez.

Khabib’s coach also pointed out that he never pushed the Dagestani to focus more on striking. This is because his ground-and-pound game was far superior to the others. Thus, there was no point in taking a risk to change the Dagestani’s fighting style. Meanwhile, significantly impressed by Khabib Nurmagomedov’s skills, soccer icon Patrice Evra has asked for his help.

Patrice Evra Wants To Train Under Khabib Nurmagomedov

Patrice Evra and Khabib Nurmagomedov

After hanging up his goal-scoring boots, Patrice Evra is about to take on his fighting gloves. All set to debut in PFL on May 23, 2025, Evra wants someone special to train him. And who better than Nurmagomedov to seek some help? While the soccer star called up the undefeated UFC legend, Khabib could be heard agreeing to his proposal.

“Send location,” said Nurmagomedov. “Tell me where you are. When I see you, you have to be ready, and that’s it. I’m going to teach you how to smash people.”

𝗟𝗘 𝗠𝗨𝗟𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗘 : Patrice Evra, nouveau combattant MMA, qui appelle Khabib 😭

Khabib : « 𝐸𝑛𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑒-𝑚𝑜𝑖 𝑡𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛… 𝐽𝑒 𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑠 𝑡’𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑒 𝑎̀ “𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑠ℎ” 𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑠 ! » 😁🥊pic.twitter.com/gRjRJ4D4y5

— Actu Foot (@ActuFoot_) April 28, 2025

Thus, with Khabib Nurmagomedov still garnering ample respect, it speaks volumes of his expansive stature as a MMA stalwart.