Khabib Nurmagomedov’s coach Javier Mendez has said the lightweight champion will not train in California for his upcoming title fight against Justin Gaethje.
Nurmagomedov (28-0) will fight interim champion Gaethje at UFC 254 on October 24th. Due to the high amount of cases of COVID-19 in California, Mendez said Khabib would rather train in his native Dagestan for the fight with Gaethje.
“We’ve got two choices [for the fight], right? Las Vegas or Fight Island,’” Mendez told ESPN. “I’m thinking Fight Island, but they haven’t said it yet. What I do know is that [COVID-19] is too high in California, and Khabib is not comfortable coming here to train.