Khabib Nurmagomedov unexpectedly announced that he was preparing to open a MMA gym in Malaysia. The place trusted by the former UFC champion is the Johor state, one of the richest areas of Southeast Asia. Khabib believes this place is a suitable position to develop and search for martial artists in the future.
At the present time, Khabib has only one MMA gym in the UAE, opened in 2022. The plan to open a gym of Khabib in Malaysia was passed after he discussed with Tieu Vuong Ismail Ibrahim of Johor state. Khabib opening a gym in Malaysia is quite unexpected decision.
In the past, there was information that Khabib could open MMA gyms in Thailand, Philippines or Vietnam. But in the end, he chose Malaysia as a destination. This may come from Malaysia with a large Muslim community, and create resources for Khabib to develop.
Khabib himself also showed goodwill to cooperate with Malaysia before the two parties officially nodded. Recently, he invited a Malaysian boxer to come to Russia to practice. This is rare, because Khabib's MMA gym in Russia is often quite picky to practice.
Khabib played the last professional MMA match at the end of 2020. He resolutely did not return to compete, despite UFC offered many major contracts. In addition to training a number of boxers such as Islam Makhachev, Khabib also participated in managing and organized many other MMA awards in the world.