On Oct. 24, UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov will defend his title against interim champion Justin Gaethje in a yet-to-be-determined location. And unlike his usual camps, this time, Khabib will not make the trip to California to train at American Kickboxing Academy. Nurmagomedov has held all his fight camps at AKA since 2012, but due to California’s continuing struggles with COVID-19, instead of Khabib going there, head coach Javier Mendez will go to Dagestan to prepare Khabib for his third title defense.
“We’ve got two choices [for the fight], right? Las Vegas or Fight Island,’” Mendez told ESPN.