Khabib developed his ground game by training against high-level opponents from the time he was a teenager because his home gym was full of them.
Khabib traces his elite grappling ability to always sparring with high-level partners at his gym starting at age 18-19. ✦ AI generated
Khabib · Lex Fridman · 2026-02-25 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 19:16
“Has anyone ever done that to you? The last time”
You know, since when I was, 18, 19, I was, I always was against, high level guys. Because in my gym, I have, always high level guys. This who I grew up the ground game.
verbatim transcript · starts at 19:16
19:16This who I grew up the ground game. [Lex] So they're always... [Ali] Brother I learned 12 years. This is true. I have never seen anyone pass his guard or tap him. [Khabib] Sometimes. Sometimes in gym, I just come change clothes. Sometimes we'll go 1.5 hour nonstop. One 20, one 10, one hour, one and a half other, more than one hour. Non-stop. Maybe changing four or five opponents.
19:4210-15 minutes, another guy, 10-15 minutes. [Lex] You keep going, [Khabib] I keep going, I used to play too long. Long. [Lex] And what happens to you mentally? [Khabib] Mentally, In my mind, I was like, thinking how somebody can make me tired. [Lex] I see you wanting to go on and... [Khabib] Keep going. All my life, keep going, keep going. [Lex] You know Dan Gable wrestler? [Khabib] Yeah.
20:09Olympic champion. [Lex] Yeah! He he said, he always said in practice he wanted to go until he quits. He never got there. He kept trying. [Khabib] That's why he's the best. he's Olympic champion. [Lex] Yeah Olympic champion. [Khabib] I just come back from, training camp. I have training camp in Dubai. I have 25 people they know. They know, every day I go, morning and night, and all the champions.
20:31Big, big names. [Lex] How do you feel? [Khabib] I love it. My body is very good. My body feel very good. sometime for some... Sometime when I travel for one week. Yes. I feel so bad because I go on the run and lift Because there is no sparring partner. [Lex] And I miss it so much. [Lex] I could tell you still love it [Khabib] I love it
20:51[Lex] I can feel it. [Khabib] No no no no, I love it. [Lex] Awesome. [Khabib] But no, no I'm gonna go... Now I'm gonna go to this. Be careful, be careful with this. [Khabib in Russian] You’re giving that away every single time. be careful, hey, eh, eh. [Camera guy] A lot of pressure? [Lex] You know, it's a lot of pressure, but it's a huge honor, man. [Magdi] I'll just say one thing.
21:06This witness, this witness, when I go with him he don't let me get up. I'm all the time in this position. [Glover] It's no way out. [Ali] He is not small guy anymore. [Glover] Oh, he feel like 280 pound. [Lex] It's incredible man. [UFC Embedded] That's shooting around on Michael Jordan. [Lex] It's shooting with Michael Jordan, yeah. It's like one-on-one basketball at night with Michael Jordan [UFC Embedded] Yeah