Professional athletes spend most of their time training. This is especially true of boot camp in preparation for a crucial fight. In their free time away from training, fighters do what they love to do. For example, Chad Mendes hunts, and Luke Rockhold enjoys surfing.
However, some fighters prefer to spend time in the virtual world. In this piece, we will tell you which athletes prefer to exchange MMA gloves for a joystick, gamepad, and keyboard.
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Khabib and Abubakar Nurmagomedov
After his UFC career ended, "the Eagle" promoted the Eagle FC promotion and training activities. When Khabib was still an active fighter, he admitted to playing Red Alert and FIFA to take a little break from training.
Khabib's cousin, Abubakar, also likes to immerse himself in the game world. Since April 2018, Abubakar has been actively playing PUBG, GTA 5 and Dota 2. "The Eagle's" cousin has been showing off his skill on live broadcasts for a year and a half. However, after Nurmagomedov signed with the UFC, he only returned to Twitch to chat with his subscribers.
Stephen Thompson
The American karate fighter asks for a fight with Jorge Masvidal, teaches martial arts at his family's school, and hangs out in the virtual world. In March 2018, Stephen began streaming actively. When he's not fighting, Thompson enjoys relaxing in Call of Duty and PUBG. The welterweight also interacts with his subscribers and talks about his life on streams.
Robert Whittaker
"The Reaper" has been a UFC champion, has fought Israel Adesanya twice for the belt and is set to defeat Marvin Vettori at a tournament in Paris on September 3. Because of training, Rob has almost no free time. Before UFC 271, Whittaker said he's been through training camp and can take some time off to start a new adventure in Skyrim.
After his first loss to Israel Adesanya, Robert was seriously stressed. The fighter immersed himself in the world of gaming and began streaming TES (The Elder Scrolls:) Online. Whittaker lets himself relax a bit during the week of the fight when the main training camp is behind him.
Kevin Holland
The talkative and charismatic fighter went down to welterweight and started winning. On June 18, 2022, Kevin choked out Tim Means with a rare "brabo" choke and thrilled the fans. Holland gives memorable interviews after fights, captures criminals and even internet trolls won't get away from his justice. Besides that, Kevin has time to play in UFC 4 and NBA 2K20.
We look forward to Holland's return to the octagon.
Stipe Miocic
The Croatian-American fighter lost his championship belt to Francis Ngannou in March 2021. After that Stipe took a break and hasn't appeared in the octagon yet. Recently there have been rumors that Miocic will fight Jon Jones for the interim heavyweight belt at UFC 282.
Stipe has a very busy life - he fights, trains, works as a firefighter and plays Call of Duty on streams. 37.5 thousand people are subscribed to Miocic's Twitch channel.
Max Holloway
At UFC 276, the Hawaiian fighter could not defeat Alex Volkanovski and lost by unanimous decision. However, Max is not discouraged and is seriously considering moving up to lightweight.
Holloway is a big fan of the various games. The former UFC champion preferred not to get into bad companies when he was a teenager and spent all his free time playing games. According to Max, he learned half of his skills in virtual space. Holloway also streamed Call of Duty and GTA 5. The popular Hawaiian fighter's channel has 67,400 followers.
I learned how to fight in a UFC game. My thinking was simple - if that combination works there, it should also work in reality. Right? That's how I got into the UFC.
Israel Adesanya
The reigning UFC middleweight champion will soon fight one of his main rivals, Alex Pereira, at UFC 281. "The Last Stylebender" is confident of his victory.
In his spare time, Adesanya watches anime, reads comics and plays various games. And Izzy prefers computers to consoles. However, the UFC champion likes PlayStation 5, so he is ready to reconsider his preferences. Adesanya likes to kill time in The Last of Us, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, EA Sports UFC 4 (he is pictured on its cover).
"The Last Stylebender" claims that computer games helped him improve his hand-eye coordination.
Sean O' Malley
"Sugar" has lost only one fight in his professional MMA career and is preparing to fight Peter Ian at UFC 280. Sean could not fight in 2019 due to a violation of USADA anti-doping rules. O'Malley wasted no time: he trained hard and immersed himself in the world of Fortnite and Call of Duty. "Sugar" was so passionate about the games that he used to stream for eight hours straight.
In 2019, Sean placed eighth in a Fortnite tournament and won $27,500. The fighter did a very noble thing with his prize: he donated the entire amount to charity.
Quinton Jackson
"Rampage" hasn't fought under MMA rules since 2019, when he lost to Fedor Emelianenko at Bellator 237. Quinton is a charismatic and fun guy with a brutal punch that was fun to watch both in and out of the cage. In addition to fighting and training, "Rampage" delved headfirst into the world of gaming.
You could call Jackson a real gamer. He played everywhere - in hotels before fights, at home and even put the console right in his car. "Rampage" has 130,000 people subscribed to his Twitch channel. Jackson is not particularly picky in terms of game choices: PUBG, GTA 5, Fortnite, Overwatch and Call of Duty. Quinton streams everything and enjoys life outside the cage.
Demetrious Johnson
"Mighty Mouse" was number one regardless of his weight division in the UFC and the reigning king of the flyweight division. After losing his fight to Henry Sejudo, Demetrious went to the One Championship, where he will soon fight Adriano Moraes for the championship belt.
Johnson was tearing up everyone not only in the UFC octagon, but also in the virtual world. Back in 2011, the fighter was approached by Microsoft with an offer for a sponsorship contract. Demetrious promoted the Xbox console and the Call of Duty game series. In 2015, the UFC struck a deal with Reebok, so "the Mouse" lost the opportunity to promote Bill Gates' organization.
Johnson hasn't given up on gaming. Since 2015, the fighter has been streaming in his spare time, playing PUBG, WoW and Fortnite.
Outside the octagon, the fighters are regular people who like to escape their everyday problems in the virtual world. For some, gaming is a way to cope with depression or just to cheer themselves up.
