Photo: UFC Legend Khabib Nurmagomedov Poses With Soccer Icon Zlatan Ibrahimovic
UFC Hall of Famer and former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov caught up with recently retired soccer superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic at a match in Italy over the weekend.
Considered by some to be the greatest fighter to ever compete in mixed martial arts, Nurmagomedov retired from the sport with an unbeaten record of 29-0 following his lightweight title defense against Justin Gaethje at UFC 254.
The 35-year-old’s coach Javier Mendez has already dismissed rumors that “The Eagle” may be planning to come out of retirement to fight at UFC 300, but Ibrahimovic decided to play into that speculation a bit by mentioning that milestone event in the caption for an Instagram photo of himself and Nurmagomedov.
Arguably as notorious for his larger-than-life personality as for his goal scoring prowess, Ibrahimovic is regarded as one of the greatest strikers of his generation and netted hundreds of goals while competing for some of Europe’s top teams (plus a brief stop with LA Galaxy of the MLS) before he ended his career with AC Milan last year.
Nurmagomedov is a noted soccer fan and even signed a professional contract with third-tier Dagestani club FC Legion Dynamo back in 2021, and at the San Siro stadium he and Ibrahimovic got to see AC Milan take a 3-1 victory over AS Roma.
Rumors of Nurmagomedov potentially returning to the UFC crop up every few months, and while is presence on UFC 300 would be a massive boost to that card the former champion seems content to let his teammate Islam Makhachev dominate the promotion's lightweight division in his stead.
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