Khabib Nurmagomedov was only a "part-time" fighter during his UFC days, according to an extraordinary claim by his former coach Javier Mendez.

The Russian was undefeated in his 13 matches in the Octagon, beating the likes of Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier. His success saw him accepted into the UFC Hall of Fame earlier this year, two years after his retirement in 2020.

Since retirement, he has worked as an MMA promoter, and a cornerman for other fighters including fellow Russian lightweight Islam Makhachev.

Nurmagomedov's unprecedented success at lightweight is even more remarkable, because Mendez said he was only working part-time on striking, whilst he works with 31-year-old Makhachev on a full-time basis.

Mendez told MMA Junkie: 'The difference between Islam and Khabib is when Khabib was in Dagestan training at Abdulmanap’s gym – his father’s gym – Khabib would only train with me really.

'He wouldn’t really train standup with anybody. He’d train with me. So his time involved in striking was very limited, whereas Islam was smart enough to train with other people and he has great coaches at home that are working with him. So with him, his striking is further ahead than Khabib’s ever was only because of the fact that Islam was working year-round on his striking.

'Khabib was only part time working, and that’s what people don’t understand. That’s what’s so amazing about Khabib. He was only doing it part time and that’s why his improvement from fight to fight you go, "Wow, he keeps improving," because for him, there was a huge gap in striking and what he could learn and what he was able to do, where Islam, he’s been steadily growing all the time and he’s by far one of the best all-around fighters that I’ve ever trained.'

Including his winning run in the UFC, Nurmagomedov, now 35, retired from MMA with a 29-0 record. It turned him into one of the most recognisable Muslims in global sport, behind Liverpool footballer Mo Salah.

Makhachev is currently on a ten match winning streak in the UFC, dating back to a loss seven years ago to Adriano Martins.

Later this month, he takes on Charles Oliviera for the UFC's vacant lightweight title. He will have Nurmagomedov and Mendez coaching him to prepare for the fight in Abu Dhabi.