The fuel that drove Khabib's four-to-five-hour daily training was not a love of winning but a visceral hatred of losing.
Khabib reveals that hatred of losing—not love of winning—was his core fuel. He describes an almost addictive obsession with preparation 100 days before every fight: arranging training on the road, never missing a session, sometimes sneaking out for a third session at night without telling his father. ✦ AI generated
Khabib Nurmagomedov · Lex Fridman · 2026-08-12 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 35:33
“But when you were training in the gym, what was it that gave you this strength? A hatred of losing or a love for winning?”
I think it was the hatred of losing. Yes, definitely... for me there was always this driver like, 'No way. I am not losing'... whenever they would give me a fight on a professional level, 100 days before it I was... How do you say it? Addiction. I was fixated like when people have this addiction... I would literally have, like, this panic... I simply could not miss that evening training session because I had to train during the day from four to five hours, two in the morning and two to two and a half in the evening... Sometimes I wouldn't tell Father. I'd just go out at night, head out, and train. At night when everyone's asleep, when nobody's around, I'd grab one of my close friends, give them a call, have them pick me up, then hop in the car and head to the sea.
verbatim transcript · starts at 35:33
35:35- But when you were training in the gym, what was it that gave you this strength? A hatred of losing or a love for winning? - I think it was the hatred of losing. Yes, definitely. I mean, you know, of course you want to win, but for me there was always this driver like, "No way. I am not losing," you know. When they would give me a fight, I always tell this to my guys, whenever they
36:04would give me a fight on a professional level, 100 days before it I was... How do you say it? Addiction. I was fixated like when people have this addiction. But for me it was commitment, that I absolutely had to prepare perfectly for the fight. I couldn't miss any training sessions. I would literally have, like, this panic. Like, for example, I'd fly somewhere and I have, let's say, eighty-five days left until the fight.
36:36Like, I knew that I had to fly. For example, if I was flying to Moscow, I would always pick a ticket so I could absolutely do my morning training session first. Then I'd take off around lunchtime. And once I arrived in Moscow, for whatever reason, I had to fit it all around my training schedule. Either I had to meet up before my training sessions or I had to meet up after my
37:00training sessions. And I simply could not miss that evening training session because I had to train during the day from four to five hours, two in the morning and two to two and a half in the evening. And I needed to I would prepare myself that way. Looking at who was in Moscow right then, wondering who I could, like pull into a training session there. Well, they also had to-- the person had to
37:24match my level as well. Not just like I showed up there, you know, played around with him. I needed a fight back. I would arrange in advance who was gonna come. Maybe some sparring, maybe I'd do wrestling, maybe I'd hit the weights, maybe a striking workout. So I had this, let's say I always had this tough and scientific approach to it. So I believe that more than anything, I didn't want to
37:51lose rather than I wanted to win, you know? Of course, winning is also a huge pleasure, but more than anything, I just didn't want to lose. - So in all those hard training sessions, you were thinking about not losing. That's the fuel. - The fuel. - Four to five hours every single day. - Every day. - There is a story that I heard. Sadulaev, the legendary wrestler, told a story that he went to a hotel,
38:15I think it was in Moscow, to train in the gym, and he was the only-- It was during the night, I don't know. He was the only one who was there. And you came down- ... And you actually trained together. And he said he, he said a lot of great things about you. He said that you gave him some really deep wisdom, which helped him to win the gold medal, at the Olympic Games.
38:42I'm curious, could you tell us now what you told him? What kind of wisdom did you give him? - I can't remember exactly, but we had really great conversations. - It's a great story that the two of you, like two legends like that, just met completely by chance. - Well, look, he's a two-time Olympic champion, right? - Right. - I think he doesn't skip his training either. He never missed one back