Khabib Nurmagomedov has said that he was inspired to become a top athlete by Mike Tyson, Muhammed Ali and Brazilian football star Ronaldo.
The legendary UFC champion went undefeated in his 29 pro MMA bouts, and he has told his fellow ex-champion Tyson that he was one of his biggest inspirations to get into combat sport.
He says that he also wanted to emulate Brazilian striker Ronaldo, who was one of the top strikers in football history, winning countless trophies including the 2002 World Cup.
And he also said that iconic boxer Muhammed Ali, who is the only one on the list he never got to meet, also made him want to pursue a fighting career.
"Three athletes who inspired me like crazy? It was Brazilian Ronaldo, Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali," Nurmagomedov said to Tyson while recording an episode of his podcast Hot Boxin'.
"I met two of them, but, I didn't have a chance to meet Muhammad Ali - I hope in like next life [I may get the chance to meet him]."
"I really believe, next life, I'm gonna meet with him."
Tyson and Nurmagomedov were joined for the podcast by former two-weight UFC world champion Henry Cejudo and top MMA manager Ali Abdelaziz.
Cejudo was the flyweight and bantamweight champion in MMA's top promotion during Nurmagomedov's reign as lightweight king, and is also an Olympic gold medalist wrestler.
Both he and Nurmagomedov announced their retirements from combat sport last year, although Cejudo is considered much more likely to return.
The full podcast has yet to be released, but will likely be one of the most viewed episodes given Nurmagomedov's star-power as one of the greatest UFC fighters ever.
His retirement last year was met with resistance from promotional boss Dana White, who repeatedly offered him fights with top contenders, before finally admitting defeat earlier this year.
And the Russian was even offered a boxing match with the legendary Floyd Mayweather, with a $100m offer reportedly on the table, but he turned the bout down.
“Khabib got offered $100 million after he was retired to fight Floyd Mayweather,” his manager Abdelaziz said in June.
“$100 million... $100 million, and you can ask Floyd, you can ask everybody.
"Khabib said, ‘No, I’m retired. I told my mother I’m retired. I’m going to keep my word to my mother. If my mother told me to fight again, maybe I would, but right now, she told me not to fight'."
Instead, the boxing legend ended up taking on YouTube star Logan Paul in an exhibition at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
Paul took Mayweather the eight round distance before the boxing legend announced that he was hanging up his gloves once again.
He even declared that it was unlikely he would do another exhibition with a social media star or MMA fighter, who would be unlikely to beat him and ruin his 50-0 legacy.
