Tagir Ulanbekov once decided to obey Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov and certainly doesn’t regret it.
The late Abdulmanap, father of former UFC champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, is regarded as a pioneer of Russian MMA who trained a legion of elite fighters. Ulanbekov is one the fighters who benefitted from the tutelage of Abdulmanap since his early career.
Back in 2006, Ulanbekov joined his cousins, who were going to join Abdulmanap’s gym. Abdulmanap summoned Ulanbekov and one of his cousins — both of whom had long hair — and asked them to shorten it by the next day.