# Khabib vs Lex: Training with Khabib | FULL EXCLUSIVE FOOTAGE

Lex Fridman · 2026-02-25

<https://lexfridman.podhood.com/992ce17a-b41f-401d-8884-7a751a4578fb>

Lex Fridman trains with legendary UFC fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov, experiencing his suffocating pressure and grappling dominance. Khabib explains his philosophy of constant pressure and never stopping, revealing how he mentally breaks opponents by making them work. Lex compares it to shooting hoops with Michael Jordan, feeling the weight of a champion's relentless drive.

## Key moments

- **[0:00] Intro**
  - [0:20] Lex reveals that before training he texted Georges St-Pierre, who replied: 'If you die, you die.'
- **[1:23] Round One**
  - [5:00] Lex, overwhelmed by Khabib's pressure during the first round, exclaims: 'This right here, this pressure is fucking insane.'
  - [8:05] After surviving the first round, Lex insists on a full 5-minute second round instead of the offered 1.5 minutes.
- **[9:12] Glover Teixeira**
- **[9:45] Round Two**
  - [16:27] Khabib critiques Lex for giving his back in grappling, saying it's not wrestling, while Lex argues the immense pressure forced him to.
- **[18:09] Philosophy**
  - [18:09] Khabib explains his training philosophy: applying relentless pressure and never stopping, with Islam noting that in 12 years he's never seen Khabib tapped or have his guard passed.
  - [19:26] Khabib describes his old training regimen of 1.5-hour nonstop sessions, cycling fresh opponents every 10-15 minutes.
  - [20:21] Khabib talks about his training camp in Dubai with 25 people, doing two-a-days, and how he misses sparring when he travels.
- **[20:53] Final Round**
  - [20:53] Khabib repeatedly says 'I love it' about training, demonstrating his enduring passion for the sport.
  - [21:47] Lex compares training with Khabib to the experience of 'shooting around with Michael Jordan,' calling it incredible.

## Speakers

- **Lex Fridman** (host)
- **Alex** (guest)
- **Khabib Nurmagomedov** (guest)

## Topics

Martial Arts

## Mentioned

LMNT (product)

## Transcript

### Intro

**Lex Fridman** [0:00]
All right, we're training with Khabib today, one of the greatest fighters of all time, a great human being. It's honestly unbelievable that I have the honor to be able to train with these guys today. I trained with the team yesterday as well. Feel a bit beat up. I, uh, actually, before this, texted George, GSP, asking if he has any advice.

I told him I'm training with Khabib. He said, uh, "If you die, you die." Uh, thank you very much for that advice, George. I love you, brother. You can tell on these mats, it has been champion after champion after champion. You can feel the history. I'm gonna do a podcast with Khabib tomorrow, so this is epic. I'm, uh, I'm the luckiest kid in the world, so...

All right, now we're gonna get back to training. Let's go.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [0:46]
Yes, yes. How are you, my friend?

**Lex Fridman** [0:48]
Hey.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [0:48]
How you doing? This is my brother Khabib who own this hotel, and he's my friend.

**Lex Fridman** [0:53]
Nice to meet you, brother. I was like, "Is that Lex Fridman?" Nice to meet you. Wait?

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [0:59]
Yes.

**Lex Fridman** [0:59]
Uh...

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [1:00]
Brother, tomorrow training with him. You come. 8:00 in the morning. Yeah, same energy.

**Lex Fridman** [1:05]
He's always got a smile. You got some of the greatest of all time on the mat right now. You got Alex, Khabib, Amanda.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [1:23]
Talking, he's gonna win. Just be quiet and go to the mats.

### Round One

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [1:32]
Ready? Ready? Go. Go, go, go, go. You touch wrong leg.

**Lex Fridman** [2:17]
That? Which leg do I need to touch? Help me.

That's cheating.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [2:24]
So, so... He tried, he tried to run like... He tried to run like nothing. I hold his legs.

**Lex Fridman** [2:35]
This is not gonna end well.

This is heavy.

Let's call it.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [2:58]
Don't tell, mate.

Hold on, man.

**Lex Fridman** [3:42]
I can't

do it either.

This right here, this pressure is fucking insane.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [5:03]
No, no, no, no. It makes me not get tired. If you don't give your brother, he gonna go and do the podcast. He say, "Rogan is a bitch."

**Lex Fridman** [5:37]
Can't breathe in here. Trapped.

**Alex** [6:21]
Do you want me to sit here, sit near or sit up?

**Lex Fridman** [6:24]
Mm.

**Alex** [6:30]
I feel like a white belt.

**Lex Fridman** [6:33]
What's your belt, bro? You're a black belt, right?

**Alex** [6:36]
Yeah, black belt.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [6:37]
Jiu-jitsu or Sambo?

**Alex** [6:39]
Jiu-jitsu.

**Lex Fridman** [6:41]
Good point.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [6:42]
Sambo don't have belt.

**Lex Fridman** [6:42]
Good point.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [6:43]
Sambo don't have belt.

**Alex** [6:44]
They are a master of sport.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [6:46]
They have b- no, no belt, no belt.

**Alex** [6:48]
They have, uh, they have, uh, levels.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [6:50]
Oh, yeah, yeah.

**Alex** [6:51]
They have levels but not, not belts.

**Lex Fridman** [6:55]
Did you get them for competing?

**Alex** [6:58]
Yeah, certainly.

**Lex Fridman** [7:00]
That was great.

**Alex** [7:01]
Yeah, it was.

**Lex Fridman** [7:04]
I told him these guys are gonna try to submit you. It's gonna make you suffer. You don't try to submit people. It's just ground, you ground, you ground.

It's like the pressure. It's like, like you're gonna be stressed, like the pressure, you know? Khabib will give you like, like pressure, you know, pressure, pressure, pressure. And you are like, "Lose the problem." You're like, "Ah, ah." Like me, I, I scream inside my brain.

**Alex** [7:43]
John Smith, no single.

**Lex Fridman** [7:47]
What?

**Alex** [8:05]
First round. First round.

**Lex Fridman** [8:07]
One and a half minute.

**Alex** [8:09]
No, we go five.

**Lex Fridman** [8:10]
Five minute?

**Alex** [8:12]
Yes.

From beginning, one more. This time I'm gonna make you run. How is your knee? I, I shouldn't have gone with him today.

**Lex Fridman** [8:28]
It's nothing serious.

**Alex** [8:30]
That's good.

**Lex Fridman** [8:34]
Was it just this?

**Alex** [8:36]
Uh, no, I'm heavy, first of all.

**Lex Fridman** [8:39]
Amazing training partner.

**Alex** [8:41]
No, no, but no injury.

**Lex Fridman** [8:43]
No injury.

**Alex** [8:43]
No injury, but the heavy.

**Lex Fridman** [8:45]
Just heavy.

**Alex** [8:45]
Stay heavy, stay heavy, stay heavier.

**Lex Fridman** [8:48]
Quick shout out to LMNT. Thank you for supporting this video. LMNT is my go-to zero sugar electrolyte drink and has been for many years. I bring these, uh, LMNT packets everywhere I go. Uh, it helps me replenish electrolytes I lose in training and fasting. Check them out in the description, drinklmnt.com/lex. All right, now back to training with Khabib.

### Glover Teixeira

**Alex** [9:12]
You wanna teach me some wrestle? Anything.

**Lex Fridman** [9:15]
Huh?

**Alex** [9:15]
I'm here.

**Lex Fridman** [9:16]
All right. Oh, Chimaev. Ah.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [9:20]
Legend.

**Lex Fridman** [9:22]
Try.

**Alex** [9:22]
Oh.

**Lex Fridman** [9:23]
Try.

**Alex** [9:24]
I try.

**Lex Fridman** [9:27]
It's okay, go.

Okay, guys, finish, finish. No, no finish.

Keep going, keep going. It's very good to see you brother. Thank you.

### Round Two

**Alex** [9:54]
Thank you.

Thanks for go again.

**Lex Fridman** [10:01]
That's got to. That's former champ.

Wrong leg. You need your wrong leg. Now beginning, hey, this glove, okay?

Nice. From the

top, you look much. Easy,

easy. Be careful. Finish up. Finish up.

Let's go. Let's go, Mitch. Let's go, Mitch.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [12:05]
Alex, you're fucking standing wrong. You're looking me.

**Lex Fridman** [12:08]
No.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [12:09]
It's not a headlock.

You understand? Yeah. Squeeze with legs. Now, for example, you move, move. Don't go down.

It's all this. Yeah. Yeah. Nothing here.

That's it. Let's go. Let's go, bro. All right. Push him. Push him, push him, push him, push him. No, don't pull. Get here. Escape a leg. You understand? You understand? And I pull. Boom, boom. And you just go there. Or this one, but this one is better. But sometime when I wanna put... Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go deep, deep.

Deep, deep, deep. You see? You see here. Just stay. Just stay. I don't need to do nothing. You have to... You have to spend your energy to get up. You understand? You have to. Why I have to force? You understand?

To make you work. To make you work.

I give you, I just fuck. I work, I work. Sometime he suspect grab me, do something.

Now I understand why people run.

Push, push. I feel like it's loud. 10X. 10X.

Push, push. Move, move, move, move. Because he gonna

run, and he gonna hit.

You grapple like wrestling match. This is not grappling.

Oh. Oh, no. Habib, look, look, look. Be careful. Be careful there. Be careful, son. Hey, be careful.

Okay, okay, stop. See, you grapple like wrestling. It's not wrestling. You cannot give your back all the time. Do you agree? You cannot grapple like that. It doesn't matter. No, it doesn't matter. You give your back. You give your back- There's so much pressure ... I never give him my back. I never give him my... You agree or no, Islam?

Agree or no? You cannot do this. I didn't give him my back. You gave him his back. You gave him his back. You can't tell, but the pressure in the hips is insane.

He's singing too.

Hip, hip, hip. You understand? Hip, hip. Push. Push.

Push. Watch it, watch it, watch it. Watch it. Hey, Marty, move. Move, move, move. Hey, move. He wants to hear us. Hey. Move, brother. He gonna hit you. Thank you so much. He gonna give you same position. You know, I want him feel pressure because I play, he play. He can play with anybody any time. But I go

### Philosophy

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [18:20]
I want show him little bit, uh, like pressure. You understand? Pressure. Uh, scramble after scramble, scramble after scramble, and I put him in my position there.

**Guest** [18:30]
But you know what interesting? Many guys stop. You do never stop. You keep on going.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [18:35]
Oh, thank you.

**Guest** [18:35]
You're not brother. You, you real one.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [18:37]
But, but, but he feel, he feel, he feel.

**Lex Fridman** [18:41]
He feel, uh, psychologically too, I feel like.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [18:43]
Oh, yeah. Yeah.

**Guest** [18:44]
All my life with him. All my life I feel psychologically he want to give up. He don't give you tap. He don't tap you. He keep going. Sometime you tap, he said, "Start."

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [18:57]
Mental is match. Mental is match.

**Lex Fridman** [18:58]
Has anyone ever done that to you the last time?

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [19:01]
Who's winner?

**Lex Fridman** [19:03]
Maybe when you were a kid?

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [19:06]
You know, since when I was, uh, 18, 19, I was, I wa- I always was against, uh, high level guys.

**Lex Fridman** [19:14]
Yeah.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [19:14]
Because in my gym I have, uh, always high level guys with who I grew up.

**Guest** [19:19]
Brother-

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [19:19]
But the ground games-

**Lex Fridman** [19:20]
So there always ground games

**Guest** [19:21]
... brother, I know 12 years. This is true. I never see somebody passes guard or tap you.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [19:26]
Sometimes, sometimes in gym I just come, change clothes. Sometimes we go one and a half hour nonstop. One twenty, one ten, one hour, one and a half hour, more than one hour nonstop. Maybe changing four or five opponents. 10, 15 minute, another guy. 10, 15 minute, another guy.

**Lex Fridman** [19:45]
And you keep going?

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [19:46]
I keep going. I, I used to it, like, long time, long time.

**Lex Fridman** [19:51]
And what happens to you mentally then?

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [19:53]
Mentally in my mind I was, like, thinking how, how somebody can make me tire, make me tiring.

**Lex Fridman** [19:59]
Oh, so you wanted to go on and on?

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [20:00]
Keep going all my life. Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going. That's it. Yeah, keep going.

**Lex Fridman** [20:07]
You know, um, you know Dan Gable, the wrestler?

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [20:09]
Uh-huh. Olympic champion?

**Lex Fridman** [20:10]
Yeah, he, he said, he always said that in practice he wanted to go until he quits, and he never got there. He kept trying.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [20:17]
That's why he the best. He was Olymp- he is Olympic champion.

**Lex Fridman** [20:20]
Olympic champion.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [20:20]
Yeah. I just come back from, uh, training camp.

**Lex Fridman** [20:23]
Yeah.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [20:23]
I have training camp in Dubai.

**Lex Fridman** [20:24]
Yeah.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [20:24]
I have 25 people. They know I every day I go morning and night, morning and night, and all are champions, big, big names. I know, like-

**Lex Fridman** [20:33]
How you feel?

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [20:34]
I love it. No, my body is very good.

**Lex Fridman** [20:36]
Good.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [20:36]
My body feel very good. Sometime for some, sometime when I travel for one week-

**Guest** [20:41]
Yes

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [20:41]
... I feel so bad because I can only run and lift because there is no sparring partner.

**Lex Fridman** [20:46]
Yeah.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [20:47]
And I miss it so much.

**Lex Fridman** [20:48]
I could tell you still, you still love it.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [20:51]
I love it.

**Lex Fridman** [20:51]
Like, I can feel it.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [20:52]
No, no, no, I love it.

**Lex Fridman** [20:53]
It's awesome.

### Final Round

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [20:53]
I love it. Now I'm gonna go with this one.

**Guest** [20:55]
Oh, no. Oh, no.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [20:56]
Be careful. Be careful with this.

**Guest** [20:57]
Be careful.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [21:00]
He

No.

**Guest** [21:40]
He's not small guy anymore.

**Lex Fridman** [21:41]
No, he feel like 280 pounds.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [21:44]
It's, it's incredible, man.

**Lex Fridman** [21:47]
That's shooting around with Michael Jordan. It's Mi- it's shooting with Michael Jordan, yeah. One, it's like one on one basketball at night with Michael Jordan. Yeah, in the YMCA gym. Yeah, in the YMCA gym.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [22:00]
Thank you, brother. Thank you, brother. It was good job. It was good job. Tomorrow we work tomorrow.

**Lex Fridman** [22:04]
Tomorrow.

**Khabib Nurmagomedov** [22:05]
This one. Yeah, we go together, right?

**Lex Fridman** [22:08]
Yeah.

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