Khabib Nurmagomedov may have dominated Conor McGregor inside the Octagon in spectacular fashion, but the former UFC lightweight champion admits the Irishman threw him the toughest mental challenge of his career. The two rivals settled their infamous feud at UFC 229 in October 2018, when ‘The Eagle’ defended his lightweight title by submitting McGregor in the fourth round.

However, the result doesn’t tell the full story of what the fight demanded from ‘The Eagle’ mentally. After all, ‘The Notorious’ had spent months verbally attacking Khabib Nurmagomedov, his family, faith, and team in one of the most intense build-ups to a fight in UFC history. So it was a completely different mental battle that had to be fought even before the first punch was thrown.

“100%,” Nurmagomedov replied when asked by Lex Fridman whether Conor McGregor was the toughest fight. “Because fighting’s all psychology, you know. It’s a mental game. Mentally speaking, that was my toughest fight. At that point, yeah. But a tougher fight came later. With (Justin) Gaethje.”

And that tough fight against ‘The Highlight’ came under completely different circumstances.

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Khabib Nurmagomedov faced Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in October 2020 in what was his final MMA bout. By then, his father and lifelong coach, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, had passed away earlier that year, leaving the champion with a great degree of personal grief.

Despite the circumstances, ‘The Eagle’ defeated Gaethje in the second round and left the sport with a perfect 29-0 record.

Meanwhile, his victory over Conor McGregor is often regarded as the most emotionally charged fight of his career. The build-up became so personal that Nurmagomedov’s emotions overflowed after the win, when he jumped over the Octagon fence and attacked the Irishman’s teammate, Dillon Danis.

This was a visual nobody expected to see, considering how calm and composed the former champion looks at all times. And this only proves how tough this fight actually was to win for ‘The Eagle.’

Khabib Nurmagomedov reveals how he could have lost to Conor McGregor

The buildup to UFC 229 was unlike anything Khabib Nurmagomedov had ever experienced. Conor McGregor’s trash talk regularly breached personal boundaries, creating enormous pressure around the matchup. And to make things worse, ‘The Notorious’ and his men even threw a dolly at a bus carrying Khabib Nurmagomedov at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center after a UFC 223 media day.

However, ‘The Eagle’ believes the greatest threat was never Conor McGregor’s words or threats themselves. It was letting all these actions influence his decision-making after the cage door was closed—a mistake Jose Aldo made as he let his emotions take over and was knocked out by the Irishman in just 13 seconds.

“Back then and even now, I still keep a cool head (about McGregor),” he said in the same interview. “When you let your emotions take over, when they’re off the chart and you completely lose control, that’s a very bad place. You will tire out faster, you will fall for any kind of bait, and so on.

“I just knew that I needed to stay calm and composed; just stick to the plan no matter what happened. This is a very, very dangerous moment when you give in to your emotions. You have to control them. The second you let it all slip, everything becomes a total mess. So, once the fight was finally done, I just let all my emotions out.”

That composure ultimately allowed Nurmagomedov to do what he had planned. He repeatedly dragged Conor McGregor into his world, controlling him on the ground before finally forcing a tap in the fourth round.

It is worth noting that he also had a major helping hand in staying composed, as ‘The Eagle’ spoke about how crucial his late father was to his mental preparation for the fight. Abdulmanap was unable to attend UFC 229 in person because he did not have a visa to enter the United States.

For Nurmagomedov, however, his father’s absence did not mean his voice was missing from the biggest fight of his career.

“For me, since he didn’t have a visa, I just had to know exactly what he thought,” Nurmagomedov said. “I didn’t care what anyone else thought or the opinions of the hundreds of millions watching this fight. I only cared about what he thought and what he said to me.

“He told me, ‘You have a choice. You can either break down and give up, or you can get through it all with dignity. Go in, win, and settle it once and for all.'”

Ultimately, he did exactly that. Now, nearly eight years after UFC 229, Khabib Nurmagomedov will take part in another significant Dagestani-Irish clash, as he will be in Islam Makhachev’s corner when the UFC welterweight champion takes on Ian Garry at UFC 330 this weekend.

But unlike the rivalry between Nurmagomedov and McGregor, Makhachev and Garry have had little hostility during the fight week. And that might be precisely how ‘The Eagle’ prefers it.