UFC: Khabib Nurmagomedov reveals how Mike Tyson made him upset in 2003: Growing up in Dagestan, Russia, Khabib Nurmagomedov claims to have been a fan of Mike Tyson all his life. While Tyson in his prime was setting new records in combat sports, a young Nurmagomedov took inspiration from him and dreamed of becoming a champion in the future, which ultimately turned into reality in the UFC.
As both men have now retired from their respective sports, Khabib Nurmagomedov has revealed that he was upset with Mike Tyson back in 2003. It was rather a sarcastic statement since the UFC great actually wanted to hail Mike Tyson’s Knockout power.
Almost 18 years back, Mike Tyson had faced Clifford Elltiene, in the USA and Khabib Nurmagomedov followed the build-up of the fight, from Russia. As revealed, The Eagle’ was excited to see the matchup. But Tyson surprisingly ended the bout in the very first round.
In a chat with ‘Iron’ on HotBoxin Podcast, the UFC elite recalled it and said “I remember when you fight, I remember it was 23rd February 2003 like 18 years ago. You were supposed to fight Clifford Etienne, and I was like week before the fight, like all Russian media show this fight of Mike Tyson gonna fight with Clifford Etienne. And I remember, it’s supposed to fight 5 morning in Moscow time.”
“I tell my father, can you please make me wake up, I really wanna watch this fight. And me and my father will watch your fight. But you make me a little bit upset because you knocked him out in first round. I was waiting for this all the time.”
On hearing that, Mike Tyson burst into laughter and claimed that he was in a hurry ti end the fight.
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Khabib Nurmagomedov and Mike Tyson- Two Absolute Different Personas
Although both Khabib Nurmagomedov and Mike Tyson could attain the heights of success, their career graph differs vastly. Unlike Tyson, Nurmagomedov never indulged himself in trash-talking and was mostly free of controversies. Besides, Khabib could also remain undefeated in MMA, whereas Mike Tyson contracted six losses in his boxing career.
Furthermore, Tyson continued fighting even when he had passed his prime and even today, the ‘Baddest Man On The Planet’ seems to have the itch to compete. He staged an epic return last year and faced Roy Jones Jr. in an exhibition. But Khabib Nurmagomedov, 32, has embraced retirement after a perfect MMA career of 29-0. Nevertheless, these contradicting features don’t seem to put any dent in their mutual love and respect.
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