Former Liverpool centre-back Dejan Lovren took part in a training session with UFC legend Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipović on Saturday morning ahead of Croatia's upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
The 31-year-old defender, who left Anfield to join Zenit Petersburg last year in a £12 million deal, is preparing for upcoming fixtures against Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta in the coming days.
With no games in the Russian Premier League this weekend, Lovren decided to jump in the octagon with one of the all-time great mixed martial artists. Why? We're not quite sure, but it was certainly an entertaining watch.
He posted footage of the sparring session earlier with the caption: "Had this morning a short training session against @crocop1009. What a beast this man still is. Was a big pleasure Mirko. Thank you.
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As you can see, Lovren somehow held on for around 50 seconds before the former UFC fighter locked in an arm bar to make him tap-out.
We're not sure a future in MMA is for you, Dejan. But he isn't the only footballer to step into the octagon.
Back in 2018, Cristiano Ronaldo visited Conor McGregor's lavish training base in Las Vegas and in the meantime, a very big promise was made.
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'Notorious' was preparing for his rematch with Nate Diaz after his shock defeat at UFC 196 but as we all know, the Irishman avenged his only loss inside the Octagon with a decision victory.
He subsequently made UFC history by becoming the first fighter in the promotion to hold two belts simultaneously.
The training clearly worked and perhaps a certain comment from Cristiano Ronaldo spurred him on to beat Nate.
As both of the biggest names in sport exchanged words, McGregor said: "You were number one on the Forbes list, I was like number 35 or something. I'll get up. Maybe next year I'll get you."
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Ronaldo replied saying, "I don't think so."
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Liverpool, Conor Mcgregor, Dejan Lovren, Football, UFC, MMA