It’s no surprise that the Nurmagomedovs are a soccer family; so much so that they would probably be offended if they couldn’t refer to the sport as Football. The patriarch of the family, 29-0 retired fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov, was even in Munich, supporting Luis Enrique’s Paris Saint-Germain, as they lifted the UEFA Champions League.
Khabib, in fact, claimed that he could play soccer better than influencer IShowSpeed, which, again, is not surprising since he’s often referred to it as his first love. And it turns out, the fighters who follow him and train under him share a similar love for the sport.
Most notably, his younger cousin, former bantamweight title contender Umar Nurmagomedov. The 29-year-old fighter, who’s 18-1 in professional mixed martial arts, also enjoys watching the sport and is often seen at stadiums watching European teams play the beautiful game.
Earlier this year, in January, Umar was present in San Siro for an AC Milan game, where he met one of the club’s legends, Zlatan Ibrahimović. The pair were seen chatting, after which Zlatan told Umar to just be himself. In a conversation with YouTuber Adam Zubayraev earlier today, Umar revealed the rest of the conversation.
“I enjoy European soccer a lot. I got to talk with (Zlatan) Ibrahimović too,” he said, when asked if he enjoys the sport as much as his cousin Khabib.
“We didn’t have much time to chat. Just like 30-40 mins. But even in that short time, you could tell he is the kind of person who talks a lot about mindset. And that’s a huge part of being an athlete, not just in soccer — in any sport,” Umar noted.
Elaborating further on getting advice from the soccer veteran, Umar added, “He told me something like, ‘I have seen your fights. Don’t give up. Everything is ahead of you. You are still young. You have got everything ahead of you. Keep training.’ Words of real encouragement.”
Umar notably lost his shot at the bantamweight title to champion Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 311 earlier this year. But despite the loss, he is expected to make a successful comeback and return to the peak to challenge for the title once again.
However, despite the promise of a bright future, the Dagetsani bantamweight is simply content with the fact that Zlatan had seen him fight.
“The fact that Ibrahimovich knows who I am — I was shocked,” he said. However, those who have followed the soccer star keenly over the course of the last decade or so wouldn’t be so.
Zlatan accurately predicted Khabib vs Conor
Zlatan, himself, is a keen fan of mixed martial arts and had famously accurately predicted how the Khabib vs Conor McGregor fight at UFC 229 would go down.
While most celebrities who had been posed the question claimed that McGregor would knock Khabib’s lights out, Zlatan had asserted that while McGregor had his one-punch KO power, Khabib had the ability to drag him into deeper waters.
Asserting that Khabib was a quiet guy, Zlatan had proclaimed that he felt Khabib was simply the more dangerous fighter. Comparing Khabib to MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko, Zlatan had predicted a Khabib victory.
“If he catches you, he doesn’t let you loose. He will make you suffer in the ring. And you don’t only suffer. He makes you give up in a way that looks very bad,” he had predicted, adding, “If Conor wants to win, he has two rounds to knock him out. If he doesn’t knock him out, it’s over. “
And that is precisely what happened. Conor might have started that fight with aplomb, but as time went by, Khabib continued gaining momentum, and the Irishman simply faded away in front of insurmountable pressure.
Khabib would eventually choke him out with a neck crank in the fourth round at UFC 229 to end the feud once and for all.
