"It was fake news" - Khabib Nurmagomedov denies reports of him playing professional football, jokes he's ready to make a transition on a Real Madrid call-up
Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov recently made headlines with news of him signing with a professional football club.
Khabib has signed his first professional football contract with FC Legion Dynamo. How well will he do as a footballer 🤔 https://t.co/uhXX2C8ubf
However, in a recent interview, the Dagestani denied the reports and termed them as 'fake news'.
During his recent appearance with Marc Raimondi of ESPN MMA, Nurmagomedov was asked about reports headlining the fighter's signing up with a professional soccer club, 'The Eagle' had this to say:
"It was fake news. I cannot control fake news, you know man. This is, this is the most difficult things in my life right now. Anybody can write anything and a lot of people watch, a lot people put like, put comment and what you can do? You can just read this, you know. This is impossible. It was fake news."
Further into the conversation, when asked about whether he's keen on playing football in the future, Khabib Nurmagomedov replied saying that he is definitely interested in football and would indulge in the game mostly for charity purposes and not professionally.
Later, the Dagestani also joked that if he is called up, he is ready to play for Real Madrid.
Catch Khabib Nurmagomedov's interview with ESPN MMA below:
Khabib Nurmagomedov jokes about not wanting to go bald like Dana White
Khabib Nurmagomedov has primarily focused on his role as a coach since retiring from MMA in 2020. He is frequently seen in the company of Russian fighters like Islam Makhachev, Usman Nurmagomedov, and Zubaira Tukhugov.
He has also dabbled in the business of fight promotion. Khabib announced the Eagle Fighting Championship will make its U.S. debut in 2022.
In the same interview with Marc Raimondi, when asked if he would play a similar role to Dana White in the fighter matchups, the former UFC lightweight champion joked, saying:
"Maybe, Maybe. But I don't wanna be like Dana. First of all, I have hair on my head, you know, first of all. And I watch, I see Dana's photo when he's just beginning with UFC and right now you can see he don't have hair on his head. I don't wanna become like Dana... I wanna save my hair."