Former UFC star Khabib Nurmagomedov gave his stance on women in professional fighting and MMA.

Nurmagomedov retired in 2021 as the longest-reigning UFC Lightweight Champion with a 29-0 record, and has since continued to coach the newest generation of fighters like reigning UFC Welterweight Champion Islam Makhachev and former champion Belal Muhammad. 

However, based on his comments made during a press conference held by the Sun Hills Development real estate company in Phuket, Thailand, he likely won’t be coaching any emerging women’s fighters. 

“There are women who choose this sport. It’s their choice. They chose it. If you ask me, I wouldn’t choose this sport for women,” he said. “It’s brutal even for men, first of all. For women it’s… I don’t even consider it. If they want to come to the gym and train to be able to defend themselves, there are women who think they can come, train, and if someone attacks them, they can defend themselves.”

He continued, “Let them go and train, no problem. But for me, it’s still something wild when a woman gets hit in the face. Whether it’s a man hitting or a woman hitting a woman.”

He said that was especially the case when the woman is a mother, going into his upbringing involving traditional gendered roles. For a man, he said that life is about raising children and taking care of loved ones and neighbors. 

“There are very few women who take on big responsibilities,” he added. “It’s very hard for them. It’s not without reason. Even God created it this way. A woman is weaker, a man is stronger. People want to change and mix all of this… But I like when a man does men’s work, and a woman does women’s work.”

Khabib Nurmagomedov explains why he’s not a fan of women competing in MMA:

“Every person in life has a mission. For a man, it’s to raise children, take care of the family, take care of loved ones.

There are very few women who take on big responsibilities. It’s very hard for… pic.twitter.com/9r4uRw6dOr

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) March 26, 2026

Nurmagomedov did emphasize that it’s purely his belief and told the audience to make up their own minds, but that hasn’t stopped discourse arising from his comments. 

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.’s live coverage for “WWE Raw” on March 30, 2026, coming to you live from Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York!

Coming off successful defenses against The Bella Twins and Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair via disqualifications caused by the other team on Friday’s episode of “WWE SmackDown” and the March 13 edition of “SmackDown” respectively, The Irresistible Forces’ Nia Jax and Lash Legend will be putting the Women’s Tag Team Championship on the line once again when they face Bayley and Lyra Valkyria. After Bayley and Lyra Valkyria scored a win against The Kabuki Warriors’ Asuka and Kairi Sane during last Monday’s episode of “Raw”, they called out The Irresistible Forces in order to challenge them to tonight’s match.

Kofi Kingston will be competing in his first match since coming up short to Je’Von Evans on the February 23 episode of “Raw” when he challenges Penta for the Intercontinental Championship. As Penta has promised to be a fighting champion and has had successful defenses against the likes of El Grande Americano, Dragon Lee, and Dominik Mysterio over the past few weeks, Kingston’s ally Grayson Waller came up short to the aforementioned Evans in singles action last Monday.

Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso will be putting the World Tag Team Championship on the line on television for the first time since retaining against Otis and Akira Tozawa on the February 9 episode of “Raw” as they defend against Logan Paul and Austin Theory of The Vision in a Street Fight. As tensions between the two teams and LA Knight have continued to be on the rise over the last few weeks, Knight passed Jey the signature pair of brass knuckles that Paul uses to cause a match pitting himself and Jimmy against Paul and Theory to end in a disqualification win for the latter two men.

2026 Women’s Royal Rumble winner Liv Morgan looked to get involved in her Judgment Day’s stablemate Raquel Rodriguez’s match against Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer on the March 16 episode of “Raw” before she challenges Vaquer for her title at WrestleMania 42. However, IYO SKY ran out to the ring to ensure that she couldn’t interfere and took out Morgan. Following such, SKY will be going head-to-head with Rodriguez in singles action.

Roman Reigns and titleholder CM Punk will be squaring off against one another for the World Heavyweight Championship at WWE WrestleMania 42 on April 18 and 19, but before they do, they will both be present at Madison Square Garden. The two men have come face-to-face with one another in a series of heated verbal altercations over the course of the past several weeks, including this past Monday when Punk vented his frustrations about Reigns having previously called him old only for Reigns and the aforementioned Uso brothers to confront him and a brawl to break out.

Additionally, Finn Balor will be making an appearance on tonight’s show after being kicked out of Judgment Day on the March 9 episode of “Raw” and left laid out at the hands of the aforementioned Morgan (who later revealed herself as the mastermind of the entire thing), Dominik, Rodriguez, and JD McDonagh. Brock Lesnar will also be appearing on tonight’s show after Oba Femi answered his Open Challenge to a WrestleMania 42 match on March 16 and has left him laid out the last two weeks on “Raw”.

We are live! Michael Cole and Corey Graves greet audiences at home as Cody Rhodes makes his way to the ring.