Cristiano Ronaldo and Khabib Nurmagomedov
Former UFC lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov is a massive fan of football
Khabib Nurmagomedov announced his retirement from mixed martial arts after beating Justin Gaethje at UFC 254, in October 2020. He then officially confirmed the same five months later.
Following his retirement, Khabib has been involved in a variety of activities. He bought the Gorilla Fighting Championship, renamed it to Eagle Fighting Championship, and it has been doing well.
The Russian begun coaching his fellow Dagestani mates across various MMA promotions.
Khabib Nurmagomedov also was very often seen playing football with his teammates, also posting several videos on Instagram.
Now, Khabib is an immense fan of the ‘beautiful game’. In fact, football is the Dagestani’s first love.
In a recent interaction with RT Sport, in Kazakhstan, Khabib addressed a possible move to professional football. The Dagestani expressed his interest to play in the English Premier League, but claimed that at 33 it was too late to have a future in professional football.
Khabib was quoted as saying:
“If I were to play, it’d probably be in the Premier League[English]. Not the Russian one, in England. I’m almost 33, I don’t think I have a future in professional football. But, I want to get involved in football. I have some projects in the works, maybe I’ll create an academy. I am working in that direction and I think you’ll hear about it soon. As far as playing, you probably understand that going pro at 33 with no amateur background and being an anchor in a team’s roster isn’t desirable- professionals play there.” [via RT Sport YouTube]
Dan Ige is set to take on Chan Sung Jung in the main event of UFC on ESPN 25 this weekend. The number 8 ranked featherweight contender will be looking forward to seeing off the fan-favourite South Korean and move into the top 5 of the featherweight rankings.
With the fight inching closer, Khabib took to Instagram stories to show his support for Ige. He wrote, “Let’s go my brother.”
Ige is coming off a KO victory against Gavin Tucker, earlier this year in March and will be hoping to carry the momentum forward.
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