THat It’s no secret that Khabib Nurmagomedov is a soccer fan. The Dagestani warrior is a big Real Madrid fan and has visited the Bernabéu on several occasions and has been spotted at numerous events of the Beautiful Match, including this year’s Champions League final. Therefore, it is not surprising that his recent statement in an interview with “World Summit Sports” revealed that his real dream as a child was to be a soccer player and not an MMA professional.
Khabib ultimately chose mixed martial arts because his father Abdulmanap was teaching in Dagestan and everything was at hand if he wanted to focus on mixed martial arts. In fact, “The Eagle” is one of the best MMA fighters of all time, and his results speak for themselves. But he will always have a thorn in his side.
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I have been watching soccer all my life and this sport is still my priority
“I have been watching football all my life, and this sport is still my priority. As a child, my dream was to become a footballer… and by chance I became a fighter because of where I was born and because my father was a coach. Just kidding, it wasn’t a coincidence, but I love football,” he said.
Khabib maintains relationships with soccer players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Andres Iniesta, and is more excited to participate in events with such superstars than in his own field. But as he says, nothing was a coincidence. If there’s one thing that distinguishes Dagestan, it’s its ability to export great mixed martial artists, and much of the blame lies with Abdulmanap.
“Eagle’s father was a mentor to most of the successful fighters in the Caucasus region, grooming his son to become a UFC lightweight champion. However, Abdulmanap’s death from complications from COVID-19 in 2020 forced Khabib to retire early with a record of 29-0. He promised his mother he would never step foot in the octagon without his father by his side, and he kept that promise.
Now he trains other fighters and accompanies them around the world to field more and more champions in Dagestan, seeing it as a way to take over from his father and continue the mission he started. But he will always remember soccer and his childhood dream of mastering the art of using cleats instead of gloves.
