Khabib Nurmagomedov upset injured countryman has worsened
By William Weinbaum
Outside The Lines
Just as his friend and countryman Magomed Abdusalamov did three years and 10 days earlier, UFC lightweight contender Khabib "The Eagle" Nurmagomedov will enter Saturday night's UFC 205 undercard fight at Madison Square Garden undefeated, with a title shot in reach.
But Abdusalamov's heavyweight boxing match against Mike Perez on Nov. 2, 2013, resulted in tragedy as the native of the Russian Republic of Dagestan developed a subdural hematoma during a brutal 10-round unanimous defeat, and
he was left brain-damaged, partially paralyzed and unable to walk or talk.
This week, amid preparations for his UFC lightweight bout against Michael Johnson, Nurmagomedov, 23-0, visited Abdusalamov, at his home in Connecticut.
"I lived near him in Makhachkala [Dagestan's capital], he's a great man and I always visit him when I come to New York," Nurmagomedov told Outside the Lines. "But I'm very upset, because his condition has gotten worse."
Nurmagomedov said Abdusalamov's mumbled communication was understandable to him a year ago, but wasn't on this visit.
How much the 35-year-old Abdusalamov can comprehend is a mystery. His wife, Bakanay, told Outside the Lines through an interpreter that "Mago" is becoming increasingly passive about the physical and occupational therapy he receives several times a week.
Magomed Abdusalamov, right, suffered brain injuries after a loss to Mike Perez in 2013.
"Even though we're trying to continue everything, there are times he just lacks the motivation," she said. "It really upsets me, but I can't give up, I keep reminding him what this is for.
"He listens, but I can't say what he understands."
Bakanay, 30, said until recent months, she and their three daughters, ages 10, 7 and 3, would take Abdusalamov to the park in a wheelchair, "but now he just wants to be in bed."
The family has a
pending lawsuit in the deposition stage, against the five New York State Athletic Commission doctors who worked the fight, as well as the referee and NYSAC inspector, alleging recklessness, gross negligence and medical malpractice. The state filed suit against five of Abdusalamov's former handlers, but two of their cases have been dismissed.
“
I lived near him in Makhachkala (Dagestan's capital), he's a great man and I always visit him when I come to New York. But I'm very upset, because his condition has gotten worse.
”- Khabib Nurmagomedov
Commission doctors sutured a laceration above Abdusalamov's eye postfight, examined him and indicated they suspected a facial fracture, but they did not send him to the hospital in an on-site ambulance. After the fight inspector saw blood in Abdusalamov's urine sample, he suggested the boxer's handlers take him by taxi to an emergency room. A nauseous and unsteady Abdusalamov underwent life-saving brain surgery, suffered multiple strokes and was in a coma for weeks.
According to April 2015 court documents, Abdusalamov's medical bills had exceeded $2 million. He received $40,000 for that final fight and had the required $10,000 insurance coverage, his former promoter said.
Magomed Abdusalamov, wife Bakanay Abdusalamova and their kids used to spend time outdoors.
A report this July after a 32-month
investigation by the New York State Inspector General ripped the NYSAC for its handling of Abdusalamov, detailed systemic problems with the commission and recommended measures for improved safety. And the state legislature, in legalizing mixed martial arts events for the first time,
mandated increased insurance for combat sports, including $1 million policies covering traumatic brain injuries.
On the changes his friend's ill-fated bout are apparently bringing about, Nurmagomedov, 28, said, "New York, after this situation, is becoming more careful, but it should have been better before, for Mago."
Said Bakanay: "I really hope something like this doesn't happen to anyone else and I really don't want someone to be in this condition or have a family endure something like this. I don't wish this on anybody."
With respect to the
bleak prognosis for her husband's condition to improve, she said, "the hope is still there, I'm not going to lose it, I can't lose it -- I want him to regain some level of independence and resume his role as father and husband."
...his best wins are bey and lundy
