Cristiano Ronaldo booked for headlock on opponent, his MMA career starts now

Cristiano Ronaldo showed off his ability to take a man to the ground in an MMA fight, as he earned a booking in Al Nassr's loss to Al Hilal.

Not everything is going as easily as expected for Ronaldo, since he made his move to Saudi Arabia at the beginning of the year, ending his time at the top of the sport.

Whilst he has scored 11 times in 11 games for his club in the Saudi Pro League, he has already managed to see manager Rudi Garcia sacked.

That came last week, after the five time Ballon d'Or winner had failed to score in a must win game against Al Feiha, as they attempt to chase down league leaders Al Ittihad.

Following that game, the 38-year-old clashed with an opponent, as they shared some rather angry words at full time, before he headed down the tunnel huff.

Al Feiha then trolled the former Manchester United star, by using the photograph from before the World Cup of Ronaldo playing chess with Lionel Messi.

His mood won't have improved on Tuesday either, as Al Nassr once again dropped points, this time at the hands of rivals Al Hilal.

As well as the loss, and his failure to score, the forward was also booked after putting on a headlock on one of his opponents in mid-air.

🚨🇸🇦| Cristiano Ronaldo gets a yellow card after taking an Al Hilal player down with a headlock 👀
pic.twitter.com/HIMfCZHYQ3

— CentreGoals. (@centregoals) April 18, 2023

Interestingly, many noticed that Michael Oliver was the referee who handed out the yellow card, despite still working for the Premier League.

The top tier in Saudi Arabia often bring over more high profile referees from outside of the country to officiate on their biggest matches.

That happened earlier this year when card happy Spanish referee Mateu Lahoz took charge of the game between Al Nassr and league leaders Al Ittihad.

And it wasn't the first time the official, whose performances in the World Cup led to complaints from Lionel Messi, took charge of a game in the Middle East.

Back to Tuesday night, and Ronaldo's side lost 2-0 to their rivals, who have been linked with a move for Messi in the future, leaving them three points off the top of the table, having played a game more than the team at the top.

To rub salt into the wounds it was former United loanee Odion Ighalo who grabbed both goals for Al Hilal on the night, both coming from Ronaldo's favoured method, the penalty spot.