UFC legends Luke Rockhold and Khabib Nurmagomedov were recently spotted grappling one another in a training session at American Kickboxing Academy and it’s truly eye-opening to see the amount of top pressure that Nurmagomedov is able to generate. Both men are fantastic grapplers in their own rights, with Rockhold earning an IBJJF world championship at both blue and purple belt while Nurmagomedov is a Sambo world champion who has also had success in BJJ competition in the past. Both men have also had a huge amount of success in using their grappling skills at the highest levels of MMA competition, with Rockhold becoming a UFC Middleweight world champion at one point in time and Nurmagomedov retiring at the end of an undefeated career that culminated in a Lightweight title-reign.
Since his retirement, Nurmagomedov has been repeatedly brought up when it comes to grappling matches with both BJJ and MMA stars but he has remained firm on his stance of no longer competing in combat sports. As a result Nurmagomedov has now taken on a coaching role at his home gym of American Kickboxing Academy, in a similar fashion to his long-time friend Daniel Cormier. It’s there that he engaged in the recent grappling session with Rockhold, as the latter is attempting to get prepared for his latest MMA fight.
Rockhold has fallen on tough times since losing his UFC Middleweight world championship to bitter rival Mike Bisping, although the two have clearly put their issues to bed after the fight. Rockhold got back in the win column by finishing David Branch but was knocked out in an interim title-fight against Yoel Romero. He then decided to change things up by moving to the Light-Heavyweight division but was knocked out once again by Jan Blachowicz. Luke Rockhold has taken a little time away from the sport but is now scheduled to compete against Paulo Costa at UFC 278 and his training with Khabib Nurmagomedov may prove invaluable when they step into the cage.
The footage of UFC legends Luke Rockhold and Khabib Nurmagomedov grappling together in training at American Kickboxing Academy was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of Jiu Jitsu World:
