"I Never Showed My Full Strength in the UFC." Khabib About McGregor, His Upbringing, and Money

I really wanted to see the cage, I've never seen one before. My previous 16 fights in the post-Soviet countries were in a ring or an open mat. I first saw the octagon during the weigh-in day. As a young athlete who always watched the UFC bouts, I just wanted to fight in a cage even when I was here (in the USA). You come into the cage, the door closes, and you sort things out.

All our lives, we trained in a gym that had one shower for 70 guys. We never had hot water, only cold. We had two ropes, two punching bags, and mats. The mats were 200 square meters, here we have 400 meters. And that gym produced 20 world champions and 2 UFC champions. I opened this gym when I started making money. I bought this hangar. My father and I planned where to have the gyms, the locker rooms, and the cafeteria. That was in early 2019. The worst conditions lead to the best results. Hunger drives people.

I never won anything before the 7th grade. I never had a first-place medal. When a child has a bad experience, they wait for their family's reaction. My father approached this correctly: he never scolded me for losing. When I was young, we didn't even work on mistakes. And when I won, he didn't praise me.

I wouldn't have let Conor go. It was a moment when your emotional stake was at its peak. We both knew what we were getting into. It wasn't choking someone you met on the street. He was one of the best fighters in the world. I don't think I would've killed him. But I would've made him pass out. We'll never know if I would've controlled myself. But how long I would've choked him is a good question. I thought that after the fight we'd continue behind the scenes.

I was focused on protecting my brother and looking out for attacks from the side. I understood that something like that might happen. I stood up when I saw him throw the mouthpiece and rush to the cage. But Zubaria calmed me down. I don't remember how, but Conor ended up in the cage and I felt him hitting me. I didn't know that Khabib wanted to attack Danis.

I had such a situation. I was in a bad area, and my father called me. I didn't know that he could see me. I put the phone on silent and put it in my pocket. I came home, and he said: 'I called you.' I didn't know he could see me. I said: 'My phone was on silent.' He broke my phone and said: 'If you don't pick up my calls, you don't need a phone.' If I came home after 9, I'd be grounded for 2 weeks. How someone could've punished me? Only by force. How else could you hold me down? I used to get jealous of people who were only beaten with a belt. I thought they had nice punishments. My father was an expert in three sports. He said we can wrestle or have a judo match. He said: 'You want to fly?' So I had some flights. I am grateful to my father for controlling and guiding me. I never missed a training session. No matter what I never skipped. I was the first one in and last one out.

I have people working for me, but I come through to help with the process. The stupidest venture I invested in? Cryptocurrency. 80-90% of cryptocurrency is like a casino. There are a few huge coins, and the rest is up and down. I invested a couple of times just by trusting people's advice and lost money. Now I only enter ventures that I can fully control.

When I entered the octagon I knew it would be my last fight. I was sure that I would never step into the octagon. I went into it like it was my last fight. I had a terrible preparation for this fight. In terms of injuries. I was in the hospital for 7 days, then I broke my finger. Even if it was difficult I had somewhere to draw my strength from. I never showed my full strength in the UFC. When you're in a tough situation, you give it everything you got. But I never had that. I could dig into my experience

My father wasn't rich. He had knowledge, skills, discipline, and an approach to me. He always led by example. He trained and wrestled himself, he loved football and played it himself. I always had a solid authority figure. I always looked to him for motivation and energy. Now I am very busy, but I try to invest in my kids every moment of my free time. My father said discipline comes first, education second, sport third.

People often ask me for a loan. Neither $40 nor $400 million can solve all the problems. It's all in your mindset. I believe that life without money is happier. A person always needs to desire something. When a person can buy everything — clothes, an apartment, or a car — it alienates them from God. And for me, it's very important to keep the balance, not to lose my footing. As my father used to say sometimes: 'He is too presumptuous.' When a man has money but no good head on his shoulders, he becomes a very dangerous man for his close ones, for friends. A person thinks that it will come to them, fall into their account — $50 million — and everything is going to be alright. No, this is exactly where all the problems start. I try to earn money, but I don't want money to take over my heart. But once it's in your heart or mind, you'll take the loss of money hard. The same goes for the money you didn't earn. Money will own you.

It was my day-to-day work: I had to copy 10 pages of Ozhegov's dictionary every day. I copied it twice. And the thing that I hated most was that the pages were very thin. You would turn over 30 pages, but it looked like you didn't turn a single one. I copied everything including commas and fullstops. And I learned a lot of words from here. I had other activities as well. I also dug pits. That was easier because it was physical labor. Mental labor is very tiring. Dad wasn't lazy, he could sit and check it and look for mistakes. I will do it with my kids. First of all, they are busy doing something useful. Secondly, they are using their time wisely. Parents used to pick us up from the street, whereas now you cannot make your children leave home.