{"id":347112,"date":"2020-04-14T06:22:04","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T13:22:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=347112"},"modified":"2020-04-14T06:22:04","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T13:22:04","slug":"khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/","title":{"rendered":"Khabib Nurmagomedov\u2019s coach has a message for critics following UFC 249 backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s coach Javier Mendez has come to the defence of his fighter amidst criticism regarding his UFC 249 withdrawal.<\/p>\n

The undefeated lightweight champion was expected to face Tony Ferguson in the main event of UFC 249 on April 18. The UFC stars were scheduled to fight four times in the past, but the matchup was foiled for medical reasons each time. Their fifth matchup was no different as “The Eagle” pulled out a few weeks before their scheduled fight.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Nurmagomedov returned to his homeland of Russia where he continued training. However, travel restrictions and continual changes dramatically impacted his preparation. He unfortunately withdrew and UFC 249 followed suit, by cancelling the whole event altogether. However, that didn’t stop fans from criticizing the Russian champ. Fans and former opponent Conor McGregor slammed Nurmagomedov and called him<\/a> a “chicken” for his decision to not fight.<\/p>\n

Nurmagomedov’s head coach Javier Mendez shut down that criticism in a Youtube Q & A.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t choose to sit it out,\u201d he clarified (transcript via MMA Fighting<\/a>). “He just went back home and he was waiting and training and waiting for a location. So he didn\u2019t choose to sit out anything. They couldn\u2019t give him a location and then he couldn\u2019t get permission. He wasn\u2019t gonna be able to get permission, so he didn\u2019t really sit anything out. He didn\u2019t get permission and he didn\u2019t get the location and now we know why he didn\u2019t get the location because of fear of it leaking out. Because it leaked out, now look, there is no show.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did absolutely the right thing when he was told to go to Abu Dhabi because the show more likely was going to be there, and then he would go home from there if that didn\u2019t work out, but that was the plan, and then train at home and then see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khabib Nurmagomedov is a devoted Muslim who has a commitment to Ramadan and will need his usual fight camp before returning to the Octagon. With that in mind, Mendez has given a timeframe for The Eagle’s next UFC appearance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe may see him in August or we may see him in September,\u201d Mendez said. \u201cIf it\u2019s August, I believe it\u2019s San Francisco. If it\u2019s September, I believe it\u2019s Abu Dhabi in United Arab Emirates. So yeah, that\u2019s when we\u2019ll see it. One of those.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nurmagomedov’s head coach has given a best-case scenario, as the future of the UFC remains uncertain in the wake of COVID-19. Hopefully, the sixth time will be the charm for Nurmagomedov and Ferguson, and Mendez wants to make sure his fighter is more prepared than ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s gonna need the same amount of time to prepare because we have to respect Tony for the great champion that he is,\u201d Mendez said. \u201cIf we don\u2019t give him the same time, if not a little bit more, then shame on me. He\u2019ll get the same attention, if not more, because we\u2019ll probably see him fight one more time before we meet him again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that doesn\u2019t happen I\u2019m okay with it just for fear of it not going through because five times? That\u2019s never happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you think Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Tony Ferguson will ever happen? Or do you think it is destined to go down in history as the best matchup that never happened? Let us know in the comments below!<\/p>\n

This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i>BJPENN.com<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u00a0on 4\/14\/2020. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s coach Javier Mendez has come to the defence of his fighter amidst criticism regarding his UFC 249 withdrawal. The undefeated lightweight champion was expected to face Tony Ferguson in the main event of UFC 249 on April 18. The UFC stars were scheduled to fight four times in the past, but the matchup […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54472,"featured_media":279653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[39580,10114,10113,39610,61249],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nKhabib Nurmagomedov\u2019s coach has a message for critics following UFC 249 backlash | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Khabib Nurmagomedov's coach Javier Mendez defends the lightweight champion following backlash for his UFC 249 withdrawal against Tony Ferguson.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Khabib Nurmagomedov\u2019s coach has a message for critics following UFC 249 backlash | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Khabib Nurmagomedov's coach Javier Mendez defends the lightweight champion following backlash for his UFC 249 withdrawal against Tony Ferguson.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-14T13:22:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Capture2-Cropped-10.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Natasha Hooper\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Natasha Hooper\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Natasha Hooper\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/6afee226d3c5a7d8ae115ba73b6c429e\"},\"headline\":\"Khabib Nurmagomedov\u2019s coach has a message for critics following UFC 249 backlash\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-14T13:22:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-04-14T13:22:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/\"},\"wordCount\":613,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Javier Mendez\",\"Khabib Nurmagomedov\",\"Tony Ferguson\",\"UFC\",\"UFC 249\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2020\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/\",\"name\":\"Khabib Nurmagomedov\u2019s coach has a message for critics following UFC 249 backlash | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-14T13:22:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-04-14T13:22:04+00:00\",\"description\":\"Khabib Nurmagomedov's coach Javier Mendez defends the lightweight champion following backlash for his UFC 249 withdrawal against Tony Ferguson.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"UFC\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Khabib Nurmagomedov\u2019s coach has a message for critics following UFC 249 backlash\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":148,\"caption\":\"| BJPenn.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/6afee226d3c5a7d8ae115ba73b6c429e\",\"name\":\"Natasha Hooper\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/natasha-hooper\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Khabib Nurmagomedov\u2019s coach has a message for critics following UFC 249 backlash | BJPenn.com","description":"Khabib Nurmagomedov's coach Javier Mendez defends the lightweight champion following backlash for his UFC 249 withdrawal against Tony Ferguson.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Khabib Nurmagomedov\u2019s coach has a message for critics following UFC 249 backlash | BJPenn.com","og_description":"Khabib Nurmagomedov's coach Javier Mendez defends the lightweight champion following backlash for his UFC 249 withdrawal against Tony Ferguson.","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/","og_site_name":"| BJPenn.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","article_published_time":"2020-04-14T13:22:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":696,"height":399,"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Capture2-Cropped-10.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Natasha Hooper","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_site":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Natasha Hooper","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/"},"author":{"name":"Natasha Hooper","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/6afee226d3c5a7d8ae115ba73b6c429e"},"headline":"Khabib Nurmagomedov\u2019s coach has a message for critics following UFC 249 backlash","datePublished":"2020-04-14T13:22:04+00:00","dateModified":"2020-04-14T13:22:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/"},"wordCount":613,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Javier Mendez","Khabib Nurmagomedov","Tony Ferguson","UFC","UFC 249"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2020","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/","name":"Khabib Nurmagomedov\u2019s coach has a message for critics following UFC 249 backlash | BJPenn.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-04-14T13:22:04+00:00","dateModified":"2020-04-14T13:22:04+00:00","description":"Khabib Nurmagomedov's coach Javier Mendez defends the lightweight champion following backlash for his UFC 249 withdrawal against Tony Ferguson.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-has-a-message-for-critics-following-ufc-249-backlash\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MMA News","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"UFC","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Khabib Nurmagomedov\u2019s coach has a message for critics following UFC 249 backlash"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","name":"| BJPenn.com","description":"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization","name":"| BJPenn.com","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","width":600,"height":148,"caption":"| BJPenn.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/6afee226d3c5a7d8ae115ba73b6c429e","name":"Natasha Hooper","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/natasha-hooper\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347112"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54472"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}