Khabib Nurmagomedov has shared a photo of himself shaking hands with Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan. The two luminaries from the worlds of politics and sports faced each other after the grand opening ceremony of the Istanbul Airport, which is planned to be the world's largest, Daily Sabah reports.
A small chat between Erdogan and Nurmagomedov was filmed by Turkish channel 24 TV.
The rendezvous with Erdogan became the latest in a series of high-profile meetings following Khabib's victory over McGregor. Shortly after coming back to Russia from the United States, he met with Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen Republic, and Vladimir Putin. The Russian President jokingly asked his father and coach Amdulmanap "not to punish" Khabib too severely for the brawl he incited after tapping out The Irishman.
Путин поздравил Хабиба Нурмагомедова с победой. Сказал, что попросит его отца сильно не наказывать спортсмена? pic.twitter.com/F1rw3PZXAw
— Кремлевский пул РИА (@Kremlinpool_RIA) 10 октября 2018 г.
Seconds after mauling McGregor into submission with a rear-naked choke late in round 4, Khabib leapt over the octagon fence to target McGregor's jiu-jitsu training partner in the crowd, with the T-Mobile Arena descending into chaos. The UFC held Nurmagomedov's $2 million guaranteed purse pending an investigation into the brawl.
The cageside brawl came as a follow-up to Khabib's personal conflict with McGregor's camp, which came to a head in April, when the Irish fighter hurled a metal dolly through the window of a bus transporting Nurmagomedov and his team. The attack was preceded by a heated exchange between the Russian UFC fighter and McGregor's friend, Artem Lobov, who lost yet again this past Saturday in a unanimous decision to UFC veteran Michael Johnson, who Khabib had already knocked out in the Octagon.
