‘Ask Trump to give my father a visa’: Khabib addresses UFC boss over dad’s US entry issue
Russian MMA star Khabib Nurmagomedov has addressed the long-running US entry issues of his father and coach Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, ahead of his upcoming fight with Conor McGregor at UFC 229.
The UFC reigning lightweight champion’s father who has trained him since his early steps in the sport and still trains him, hasn’t attended neither of his son’s fights on American soil due to the US visa issues that have dogged him ever since Khabib debuted in the octagon in 2012.
And even though this April Khabib became a champion and is now set to fight against the sport’s biggest star this October, in a bout that is expected to become the most financially lucrative in UFC history, the situation hasn’t changed for Nurmagomedov senior.
“Dana White please ask Donald Trump give my father a visa,” wrote Nurmagomedov in an Instagram post, captioning the photo of UFC boss White together with American President Donald Trump.
White has recently visited the White House and, while details of the meeting aren’t known, the two have done some business together in the past, during the UFC’s early days, when their events were hosted at the Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic city, when MMA fights were still illegal in some states, including New York.
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While it remains to be seen if the UFC boss’s connection at the very high level of American politics will help Khabib’s father to solve his visa issues, the recent political climate between Russia and the United States has been very often described as “the worst since the Cold War” and has lately negatively affected US entry chances for a number of Russian citizens, including many athletes.
