Daniel Cormier has had his say on Khabib Nurmagomedov’s viral moment at the Champions League final.
The former UFC lightweight champion is an avid soccer fan who travels all over the world to watch the big games live.
Khabib Nurmagomedov was pitchside for the biggest match of the year, as Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan battled for the biggest prize in European football on May 31 31.
Unfortunately, the MMA legend’s night took an awkward turn when he was invited to speak about the game on live TV.
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Daniel Cormier defends Khabib Nurmagomedov’s handshake refusal
Khabib Nurmagomedov faced backlash for refusing to shake hands with respected sports reporter Kate Scott.
‘The Eagle’ smiled as he shook hands with three men before putting his hand to his heart when Scott tried to greet him in the same way.
iShowSpeed’s visibly stunned reaction to the awkward moment helped it go viral on social media.
Daniel Cormier believes the popular streamer is to blame for the backlash Nurmagomedov received in the days that followed.
“If you know his religion, that’s the way it is,” he told Shannon Sharpe about his Muslim teammate.
“Not many men are willing to do that, especially in that moment.
“I think the reason it got so odd was because that kid reacted the way that he did. There was a YouTube kid that was up there with them, and he was kind of like, ‘Oh, my God! Speed, iShowSpeed.
“I’m pretty sure he explained it to her afterwards, but it’s live TV, right? Things happen. That’s respect to his wife, and, honestly, it’s respect to Kate. It’s actually a respectful gesture to the person you’re refusing to shake hands [with] because he, as a married man, shouldn’t shake the hand of another woman.”
Khabib Nurmagomedov checks iShowSpeed
Khabib Nurmagomedov quickly shrugged off the awkward moment to deliver some great TV.
‘The Eagle’ checked iShowSpeed during his hilarious Champions League final cameo for CBS.
Pundit Jamie Carragher sparked the Nurmagomedov vs. IShowSpeed beef with one question.
The former Liverpool defender asked: “Do you think you could beat Speed in a fight or a race?”
“Don’t forget, between us is nobody, right now,” Nurmagomedov said to playfully warn the influencer.
The 29-0 Russian turned the attention back to his ‘beef’ with IShowSpeed when his interviewers thought he’d used the word fight when he was talking about catching a flight out of Germany.
“No more fight,” Nurmagomedov said, referencing his retirement from MMA in 2020.
He added: “Maybe if this guy is gonna talk too much, maybe we gonna fight tonight.”