His assets, career earnings and more

Khabib Nurmagomedov is one of the best mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters of the current generation whose net worth mostly comprises his earnings from the combat sport. A Russian from Dagestan, the 34-year-old Nurmagomedov, who is nicknamed ‘The Eagle,’ has now retired from the sport and spends his time promoting his own fighting tournament and his restaurant franchise.

Nurmagomedov started training at the young age of eight under the guidance of his father, the late Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, who was himself a former wrestler and MMA coach. His father’s unique training regimen helped young Nurmagomedov quickly adapt a fighting style that used the best of both agility and brute strength in the ring.

This is why Nurmagomedov was devastating as a grappler and could tie up his opponents in holds from which they could not escape. His mental fortitude helped Nurmagomedov overcome sometimes stronger opponents as well. Though Nurmagomedov started his professional MMA career in 2008, he is best known for his years in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) from 2012 until his retirement in 2020.

Khabib Nurmagomedov UFC records

The records that Khabib Nurmagomedov holds in the UFC are outstanding. He competed in the lightweight division and won the title in 2018, successfully defending it till his retirement. Nurmagomedov, therefore, remains undefeated in the UFC since he neither lost nor tied any of the 13 matches he competed in.

But that is not all. What perhaps makes Nurmagomedov one of the greatest combat sports personalities of all time is the fact that he has remained undefeated throughout his entire professional career. He has won all 29 of his MMA encounters in multiple promotions he competed in during his career. Outside of the MMA, he won the gold medal for Russia twice at the WCSF World Championships, or World Sambo Championships, in consecutive years in 2009 and 2010.

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s net worth: How did the UFC icon make his wealth?

MMA salary and total earnings

Reports suggest that Khabib Nurmagomedov’s net worth is around USD 40 million. Like all MMA fighters, Nurmagomedov has made most of his money from his MMA matches. It is noteworthy that he has earned more as winning bonuses in his career as a UFC star. MMASalaries, a website which tracks the earnings of MMA fighters, reveals that the total money that the Dagestan-born Russian has earned from his fights comes to around USD 21.7 million.

The site lists all 13 of his UFC matches but none of his other 16 professional MMA encounters, payouts from which, thus, remain unknown. This means that his known salary earnings constitute only the money he has made at UFC, and it is this figure which makes up almost half of his net worth.

Nurmagomedov’s biggest payouts came in his last UFC match, which was with Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in October 2020. The Russian successfully defended his title in the match, and though there was no winning bonus, he still took home USD 6.87 million on the back of his high base salary of USD 6 million.

He made the same amount in his penultimate UFC match, which was against Dustin Poirier at UFC 242 in September 2019. Interestingly, Nurmagomedov could have actually earned his career-high income in the match against Irish MMA legend Conor McGregor had he not been fined because of a post-match brawl. The Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Conor McGregor encounter at UFC 229 on 6 October 2018 was held in Las Vegas, Nevada, US. The fight set the record for the biggest-ever MMA pay-per-view in history, with 2.4 million buys.

The payout that Nurmagomedov received from the high pay-per-view amounted to USD 5.1 million. When added to his USD 2 million base salary and USD 40,000 sponsorship, his total payout came to around USD 7.14 million. But both Nurmagomedov and McGregor were fined after their teams clashed following their match. Nurmagomedov had to shell out USD 500,000 and was left with around USD 6.64 million only.

Nevertheless, Nurmagomedov’s performance indeed helped him earn millions in dollars over the course of his time in the UFC. This is evident from the payout he received in his first UFC match, which was against Kamal Shalorus as part of the UFC on FX: Guillard vs Miller matchup in January 2012. Nurmagomedov’s total payout was USD 36,000, including his base salary of USD 8,000.

Endorsements and businesses

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s net worth greatly benefits from his brand endorsements. Reebok, Toyota and Gorilla Energy are the three main internationally renowned brands that are known to be endorsed by Khabib Nurmagomedov. But terms of all of his deals except for Toyota are unknown, which is why it remains unclear as to how much Nurmagomedov makes from his endorsements.

Reebok is the oldest of the three, having signed the MMA icon in 2015. An MMA Junkie report from the time suggests that it was an “individual sponsorship deal.” By the time of the deal, Nurmagomedov had been out of action for over a year because of injuries since winning his sixth UFC match.

In 2019, Nurmagomedov was unveiled as the brand ambassador of Japanese auto giant Toyota in the Russian market.

The Toyota deal and his earnings from the sport helped the MMA fighter make at least USD 16.5 million in the 2019-20 period, as per Forbes, making him Russia’s highest-earning celebrity under the age of 40 at the time. A year later, he added his third major sponsor, Gorilla Energy, to his bag. Nurmagomedov himself revealed the deal on social media in 2021, calling it the “biggest signing in the history of Russian sports.”

Reports suggest that the 2021 deal was a deeper and longer multi-year agreement between the Cyprus-headquartered energy drinks maker and the fighter since they had originally signed a deal in 2018. The new deal came a year after the Dagestani native purchased Gorilla Fighting Championship, a Russian MMA promotion based out of Dagestan. Nurmagomedov reportedly paid USD 1 million to Gorilla Energy, which ran the promotion. He renamed it Eagle Fighting Championship (EFC), after his nickname.

Among other collaborations and endorsements, he is part of are GMT Token, Fitroo and Jacob & Co. All of the announcements happened in 2021. In October, Nurmagomedov revealed that he has become the ambassador of GMT Token, which is a blockchain-based Bitcoin mining token.

The following month, the MMA star released a special wristwatch as part of his partnership with Jacob & Co. The watch, Epic X Chrono Black Khabib, has a green mineral crystal dial set in a 47mm black DLC grade 5 titanium case affixed to a rubber honeycomb strap.

The same year, sports nutrition brand Fitroo launched a series of products in partnership with Nurmagomedov under the ‘Fitroo by Khabib’ line.

His most notable business is his restaurant chain M-Eat by Khabib, which he founded in 2019 in Moscow. He later opened a franchise in Kazakhstan’s capital Almaty.

In June 2023, he announced his intention of bringing the restaurant to multiple locations around the world. A post on his Instagram indicated that he is aiming to open in regions and countries as diverse as eastern Russia, Central Asia, India, the UAE, Europe, the US and South America.

Post-retirement coaching

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s expertise, physical and mental toughness, in-ring alertness, and the fact that he retired as an unbeaten champion has made him one of the most sought-after former athletes as a coach and cornerman.

He had already started guiding younger MMA fighters even before his retirement but focused on coaching only after 2020. He has worked with his head coach Javier Mendez to train fighters at American Kickboxing Academy and has appeared as cornerman to some of his protégés, who compete in the UFC as part of Team Khabib.

But in early January 2023, Russian media reported that he may have moved away from coaching and all forms of MMA.

“He informed me about three weeks out that this is what he was gonna do. He wants to spend time with his family and I’m 100 per cent with him on what he wants to do,” Mendez was quoted as saying after news of Nurmagomedov’s decision started doing the rounds.

The following month, he did not appear as cornerman to his protégé, Islam Makhachev, in the latter’s match against Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284.

Philanthropic work by Khabib Nurmagomedov

Khabib Nurmagomedov was in the news in 2018 when he travelled to Nigeria in Africa on a charity mission to help people gain access to clean drinking water.

According to RT, MMA journalist Ariel Helwani revealed that Nurmagomedov was in Nigeria to “repair water wells and build new medical centres” for local children.

Helwani also shared an Instagram post in which Nurmagomedov can be heard saying in a video that “These people only need water” while taking stock of a broken handpump in an unnamed Nigerian village. Helwani’s post also had a picture of the MMA star posing with village children.

In September 2019, Nurmagomedov helped raise USD 100,000 for his UFC 242 opponent Dustin Poirier’s charity The Good Fight Foundation.

It was a surprise gesture, which Nurmagomedov revealed to the American immediately after their fight. They were seen exchanging T-shirts, with Nurmagomedov promising Poirier that he will sell the T-shirt and donate the entire amount to the latter’s charity.

Experience the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat of #UFC242 👊

📺 the full episode on @UFCFightPass: https://t.co/4FQxBVxZNA pic.twitter.com/XzAka6nXR2

— UFC_Asia (@UFC_Asia) September 16, 2019

“I had no clue he was gonna do that. He raised a lot of money. It was the biggest donation we’ve ever had with the foundation,” Poirier said on Helwani’s MMA Show on ESPN, adding, “Yeah, I believe all from the shirt, I don’t know if he auctioned it off or had someone offer him it.”

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s net worth: His assets

Nothing is known about Khabib Nurmagomedov’s immovable assets like his homes. Some reports suggest that he lives in a simple house in Makhachkala, which is Dagestan’s biggest city.

On the contrary, there is some information about the cars he owns. This is partly because of Nurmagomedov’s friendship with fellow Dagestani Hasbulla Magomedov, who is popularly known as ‘Mini Khabib.’ Hasbulla is a well-known figure on social media. He often showcases luxury cars as well as fast machines on his Instagram. Both Hasbulla and Nurmagomedov are seen travelling in private aircraft and meeting celebrities.

Hasbulla suffers from a medical condition known as Growth Hormone Deficiency (GHD), or dwarfism. As such, he cannot drive. Thus, fans believe that some of the cars he showcases might actually belong to Nurmagomedov.

Lada Priora

An ordinary car produced by Russian automaker AvtoVAZ, Lada Priora is believed to be the first four-wheeler that Nurmagomedov owned after getting his driving licence in Dagestan.

The Priora is an affordable car. A new variant would cost around RUB 500,000 (USD 5,500) in Russia.  Nurmagomedov’s car was an older make, which means that it was even cheaper. A report by The Sun suggests that he sold it to finance his early career in MMA.

Mercedes-Benz cars

Nurmagomedov has owned at least two Mercedes cars — a Mercedes-Benz W124 300E and a Mercedes-Benz AMG-GT. The W124 300E went out of production in 1997, but The Sun reports that he bought it “when he started making money.” Nevertheless, the car met with an accident, and the MMA star was forced to part with it.

The AMG-GT is altogether a different car. Its most basic model, the four-door coupe, is priced at around USD 92,000 in the US. The more powerful Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series, on the other hand, starts at USD 325,000.

Nurmagomedov received it as a gift from a Dagestani oligarch, Ziyavudin Magomedov, after defeating Darrell Horcher in April 2016 in a UFC match. However, the car was soon involved in a minor accident after Nurmagomedov lent it to a friend in Makhachkala. Following the accident, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov said that the car can be repaired.

“It’s okay. The car is repairable. One lamp was broken, the hood and bumper are damaged. Even the glass is not broken. There is no problem,” the senior Nurmagomedov reportedly said. It is not clear which model of the AMG-GT was ‘The Eagle’ gifted, but The Sun reports it has a V8-twin-turbocharged engine and is worth around USD 175,000.

BMW 6 Series cars

Nurmagomedov is believed to be owning more than one BMW 6 Series car. But the exact models from the line are not known. The new BMW 6 Series was launched in 2003 and is still in production. It is one of the best-selling lines from the German auto giant. A BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo 630i M Sport, one of the finest models in the line, has an acceleration of 0-100 km/h in 6.5 seconds and a top speed of 250 km/h.

Ferrari California

This is one car that Nurmagomedov has been seen driving. The Ferrari California is a sleek sports car designed for speed. It costs anywhere between USD 360,000 to USD 414,000 for the 2020 range of convertible models and is another impressive indicator of  Khabib Nurmagomedov’s net worth.

It is not clear which Ferrari California model Nurmagomedov has, but Ferrari California T, the latest in the line, is powered by a 3855 V8 engine. It can attain a top speed of 315 km/h and has an acceleration of 0-100 km/h in just 3.6 seconds.

Toyota Land Cruiser J200

Since Nurmagomedov is a Toyota ambassador, in all probabilities, he would have a Toyota car in his garage. The one he has is the Land Cruiser J200, which comes at a starting price of around USD 87,000 for the 2021 model.

The Toyota Land Cruiser J200 is an SUV, which is part of the company’s long-running Land Cruiser marquee. It has remained one of the best-known machines of its type from 2007 to 2021.

The 2021 model comes with 4.5-litre twin-turbo diesel V8 engines, and the base variant is priced at USD 92,000. The Toyota Land Cruiser line is known for its ruggedness, so much so that several military and paramilitary forces use older series models in conflict zones.

(Hero and Featured images: Khabib nurmagomedov/@TeamKhabib/Twitter)

This article was first published in Augustman India. 

The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.

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