Meet the future UFC champions from Khabib Nurmagomedov's MMA gym

Khabib Nurmagomedov has identified three future UFC champions from his MMA gym.

‘The Eagle’ is regarded as one of the greatest fighters of his generation having hung up his gloves retired undefeated following his submission win over Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in October 2020.

Now, Nurmagomedov currently spends his time teaching wrestling at the famed American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California.

He also juggles that with running his own promotion which is appropriately named Eagle FC where he provides local talent with the opportunity to make it to the bigger leagues.

READ MORE: UFC 280: Date, Fight Card, Location, Tickets and more

In a wide-ranging interview with UFC Russia per The Mirror, the Russian tipped three hot prospects for the very top.

Explaining his three picks, he said: "The way I see it at 135lb is Renat Khavalov.

"He is doing very well and he is also getting married so is great news. Renat is doing well and he is a guy with huge potential.

"Another guy who has huge potential and who has had five fights so far is Amru Magomedov.

"He strikes very well and wrestles very well and he is one year younger than Usman [Nurmagomedov] and I think in one year and a half he will be on the horizon.

"We have also got Shakban Alkasov, he recently submitted a strong guy in the first round [Mikhail Doroshenko]. In total we have got around 8-10 really strong young guys and most importantly they are all hungry. I watch them and talk to them and they all have that spark in their eyes. I sometimes see myself in them and the new generation is growing strong."

READ MORE: UFC 280: Islam Makhachev ready to 'take over Khabib's legacy' as lightweight champion

In the same interview, Nurmagomedov, 34, predicted that Islam