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#2. UFC star Khabib Nurmagomedov criticizes French President Emmanuel Macron over comments on Islam
After winning his fight against Justin Gaethje at UFC 254, lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov announced his retirement from the sport of MMA.
Within a week of his retirement, 'The Eagle' uploaded a post to his Instagram account, slamming French President Emmanuel Macron for his comments on the Islamic religion.
The post featured a picture of Macron with a boot print over it. In the caption of the post, Nurmagomedov wrote:
"May the Almighty disfigure the face of this creature and all its followers, who, under the slogan of freedom of speech, offend the feelings of more than one and a half billion Muslim believers. May the Almighty humiliate them in this life, and in the next. Allah is quick in calculation and you will see it. We are Muslims, we love our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) more than our mothers, fathers, children, wives and all other people close to our hearts. Believe me, these provocations will come back to them, the end is always for the God-fearing." (translated through Google translate)
Earlier that month, an extremist in Paris beheaded a school teacher named Samuel Paty for showing carricatures of the Prophet Muhammad to his students.
Following the incident, Macron gave a speech where he uttered the following words:
"Islam is a religion which is experiencing a crisis today, all over the world. There was a need to free Islam in France from foreign influences."
The former UFC champion's Instagram post was in response to these words by Macron.
#1. UFC fighter Israel Adesanya calls Jacinda Ardern a liar after her statement on MMA fighters
MMA fighters have been facing several issues due to the COVID-19 restrictions in New Zealand. UFC lightweight Dan Hooker faced difficulty in flying out of New Zealand for his fight at UFC 266 due to visa issues. 'The Hangman' was also prohibited from training at his gym by the authorities.
The country's president, Jacinda Ardern, recently stated that MMA fighters were being treated in a fair manner. In response, UFC middleweight king Israel Adesanya uploaded a tweet accusing Ardern of gaslighting and lying.
The UFC champion did not stop there. He then uploaded a video of himself analyzing the Prime Minister's reaction upon hearing his name.
'The Last Stylebender's gym, City Kickboxing, also uploaded a statement on Instagram, claiming Ardern's statement to be untrue.
