Khabib plays football with Kazakh boy born with no legs as UFC champ makes youngster’s dream come true (VIDEO)
UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov fulfilled a dream for a fellow football fan when he met Ali Turganbekov, a youngster from Kazakhstan born without legs.
Despite being born with amelia, a rare defect which has left him without legs, Ali has mastered a key aspect of football and boasts heading skills the likes of which Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi would be proud.
The brave youngster is already something of a celebrity, having showed off his talents while training with Argentine legend Diego Maradona and Ukrainian icon Andriy Shevchenko.
Also on rt.com 'A dream come true!' Boy born with no legs plays with football hero Shevchenko & team (VIDEO)But one man he still dreamed of enjoying a game of football with was Russian UFC champ Khabib – himself a massive fan of the beautiful game.
Ali's wish became reality on Khabib’s promotional visit to Kazakhstan this week, where the pair met and played football on stage.
Ali shared pictures of himself with Khabib and fellow Dagestani UFC fighter Islam Makhachev, revealing that Khabib had presented him with his first iPhone.
The youngster also said he had given football-mad Khabib a present of his own, gifting him a prized football signed by Paris Saint-Germain stars including Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.
While Ali is a skilled header of the ball he boasts incredible arm strength, and showed off push-ups skills that the UFC champ himself would be proud of.
Khabib also shared photos with his 18.3 million Instagram follower of himself and Ali on stage at a press conference, tagging the youngster and writing: “it was nice to meet you brother.”
Khabib revealed on his trip to Kazakhstan that he had bought an apartment in Almaty, the nation’s largest city and former capital.
Located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains, it will likely remind Khabib of his own mountainous home in Dagestan.
Khabib’s Q-and-A with fans was yet another stop on what seems an endless tour for the massively popular UFC lightweight ruler, although Khabib has said his travels do not prevent him from training at least once a day.
The unbeaten champ has said he will step up intensive preparations in January ahead of his long-awaited fight against Tony Ferguson in Brooklyn, New York, on April 18.
