A legend of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Khabib Nurmagomedov has rated Juventus’ football star Cristiano Ronaldo higher than his career rival and FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi in terms of their football talent.
The 32-year-old Russian mixed martial art star described Cristiano Ronaldo as the best footballer in the world. He rated record 6-time Ballon d’Or winner, Lionel Messi as the second-best.
He didn’t leave out AC Milan veteran football star, Zlatan Ibrahimovic on his top three list of the most talented footballers in the world. However, Khabib, a two-time Combat Sambo World Champion rated Lionel Messi above Ronaldo in terms of “results”.
The argument about who is a better footballer between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo has been an endless one. Many believe the 33-year-old Argentine football icon is greater than the 35-year-old Portuguese football star, while others think otherwise.
Though Lionel Messi is arguably the most decorated footballer in the history of the game, the argument has been that Ronaldo has proven to be a better player in various leagues across Europe while Messi has been at FC Barcelona in Spain all his career.
Another school of thought believes that Messi is only a great player at FC Barcelona and has not been able to do much for his national football team. The fact that Ronaldo has won the European championship and the European Nations League for Portugal are two points his fans always use against Messi’s fans.
Despite all the arguments for or against Messi and Ronaldo, the arguments have not been able to change the fact that Messi has won the most prestigious football award, Ballon d’Or, more than Ronaldo. He is believed to have set and broken more football records than his rival from Portugal.
“Well, I would place Cristiano first,” Khabib Nurmagomedov was quoted saying by Sportskeeda. “Cristiano is the best. Zlatan can also be called a great player in his own way. And in terms of results – Messi is the best. So: Cristiano, Messi, Zlatan.”
The fact that Khabib Nurmagomedov rated Cristiano Ronaldo in terms of talent is not a surprise because the two sportsmen have been best of friends over time. They have been seen together and also flaunted themselves on social media a couple of times.
Besides that, the 32-year-old current UCF Lightweight champion has been a huge fan of Spanish La Lia giants, Real Madrid, especially during the period Ronaldo was playing for the Spanish club.
Khabib Nurmagomedov wanted to be a footballer
Meanwhile, Khabib Nurmagomedov revealed recently that his childhood dream was to be a footballer but ended up becoming a martial art star due to where he comes from, Dagestan in Russia.
The Real Madrid fan noted that if a person like Cristiano Ronaldo had grown up in Dagestan, he would have ended up becoming a fighter like him instead of a football star.
“I’ve loved football since my childhood and always dreamed of becoming a footballer,” Khabib was quoted saying by The Sun last month.
“But I was born in Dagestan and you know yourselves, what the priority is.
“Who knows, maybe if Cristiano Ronaldo was born in Dagestan, he would have also become a UFC champion.”
