UFC lightweight champ Islam Makhachev has been so impressed with teammate Umar Nurmagomedov’s work ethic over the years — but not the upcoming bantamweight title challenger’s gas pumping skills.

Makhachev headlines Saturday’s UFC 311 pay-per-view event as he defends his title against Arman Tsarukyan in a rematch, while Nurmagomedov challenges 135-pound champ Merab Dvalishvili in the co-main evet.

Ahead of the UFC’s first big event of 2025, Makhachev shared a hilarious story of a young Nurmagomedov making a huge mistake while pumping gas before a planned road trip.

“One time we were training in San Jose and some of the guys say, ‘Let’s go to San Francisco,’” Makhachev said at media day. “I told them, ‘Hey, no, I don’t want to go to San Francisco because some of the time, [there’s] traffic more than one hour [driving during] the weekend.’ They just leave, four people and I called them after two hours. ‘Hey, where are you guys? You reach San Francisco?’

“They say, ‘No, we reached the hotel where we [left] from.’ I said, ‘What happened?’ They told me, ‘We go to the gas station and Umar put diesel in our car.’”

Makhachev looks to make history this weekend. With a victory, the No. 1 pound-for-pound best fighter would become the first fighter in history to defend the lightweight title four times — which includes two wins over former featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski, and a submission win against Dustin Poirier in his most recent defense at UFC 302 this past June.

Nurmagomedov is undefeated over 18 pro fights, and six octagon appearances. In his most recent outing, the 29-year-old defeated perennial contender Cory Sandhagen in the main event of UFC Abu Dhabi this past August.

Despite Dvalishvili saying that Nurmagomedov may not have done enough to earn his first title shot in terms of overall résumé, Makhachev has seen the surging bantamweight prepare for this moment for a decade.

“I know Umar more than 10 years, this guy’s the most disciplined guy in our gym,” Makhachev said. “He traveled a lot when he [wasn’t] in the UFC. He traveled a lot with us, and he was training for 10 years with us everywhere. This guy’s hungry.

“When he was young, he was always thinking about UFC belt, ‘I want to be champion, I want to be [a] success.’ And he’s a hard worker, that’s why he’s a contender right now. That’s why he’s fighting for the belt. He [deserves it] because I saw how he [was] training. [He’s] very hungry.”