It has been a turbulent year for retired UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomedov when it comes to money. For months, rumours have swirled about the financial status of 'The Eagle'. That speculation was pushed into overdrive when Khabib saw all of his Russian bank accounts frozen over an unpaid tax bill of $3.
4 million owed to the country's government. The former lightweight champion also reportedly had six luxury cars repossessed - worth a total of $1m - as part of the same dispute. With his long-time rival seemingly in major hardship, Conor McGregor couldn't resist having a pop at Khabib, allegedly even entered into negotiations to buy his family home in Dagestan.
There's no evidence that the Irishman's interest went any further, though, so his comments on social media were likely only designed to taunt Nurmagomedov. Per MMA Mania, the 35-year-old settled his outstanding tax debt earlier this month, writing a cheque to clear the amount owed in full. Although the matter is now resolved, confusion remains over how a man who headlined some of the biggest UFC pay-per-views of all time could suddenly have lost all of his money.
Khabib was Caught Up in "Tough Policy" Introduced by the Russian Government The situation that Khabib has been faced with a recent times was addressed by top Russian lightweight contender Alexandr Shabliy in a recent interview. Ironically, the interview had been arranged to promote Shabily's upcoming bout with Khabib-trained Bellator Lightweight Champion, Usman Nurmagomedov, on the 7th of September. When the topic of conversation came around to Khabib's finances, Shabliy made the following, carefully-worded, comment.
"It wasn’t just that it turned out that Khabib had some unpaid taxes. This is a situation of counterbalance between the country and Khabib. Khabib did not support the political decisions of the state, and in response, the state — as in response to many bloggers who pursued opposition policies and did not support the government’s position — took such measures.
I think that it is no secret that our state has a tough policy and controls the resources that it has." While Shabliy refused to acknowledge the exact "political decisions" that Khabib did not support, the legendary fighter has previously spoken out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Against the backdrop of the tax dispute, Nurmagomedov decided to renounce his Russian citizenship - and is now officially a resident of the United Arab Emirates.
As far as his finances are concerned, Khabib appears to be doing just fine and is notoriously generous when it comes to his teammates. Reigning UFC Lightweight Champion, Islam Makhachev, has previously spoken about the great lengths that Khabib went to in order to help him when he moved to the USA . "He rent big house for the team, he rent lots of cars for the team, and nobody pays.
He pay for everything. I cannot explain to you about Khabib because he do a lot of stuff, but nobody knows. We all have to tell him thank you," revealed Makhachev.
For a brief period, it seemed like some fans were hoping that Khabib's supposed money issues might lead to a return to the Octagon. The star hung up his gloves in 2020 with a perfect 29-0 record after promising his mother that he wouldn't fight on after the passing of his dad. Despite much speculation to the contrary in the four years since, he's never looked likely to go back on his decision.
In an interview, Khabib Nurmagomedov was once compared to the great Muhammad Ali. His response blew fans away. ”.
