Cristiano Ronaldo once named sports he enjoys watching more than football

Cristiano Ronaldo once revealed that he preferred watching Combat Sports on TV over football. One of the greatest players to ever lace up a pair of boots, the Portuguese icon said while playing the beautiful game was his passion, football wasn’t his favorite sport to watch.

Ronaldo has recently been seen at several mega boxing events taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. His fandom of Combat Sports isn’t new as he has been friends with MMA superstars like Conor McGregor, Francis Ngannou, and more.

Appearing in the 2020-released documentary ‘Parallel Worlds,’ the five-time Ballon d’Or winner spoke about the sports he watches on TV. He said (via MARCA):

“Playing Soccer is my passion, but then I prefer to watch other sports on TV. Between a Soccer match or watching a Boxing match or UFC, I choose Boxing and UFC.

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Cristiano Ronaldo, however, added in the same breath that being a boxer or an MMA fighter was not his forte. He said athletes need to be naturally gifted to excel in certain sports and that in his case, it was football. It’s safe to say Ronaldo made the right choice in terms of picking his sport.

When Francis Ngannou was surprised by Cristiano Ronaldo’s reception

Francis Ngannou is perhaps the most dangerous knockout artist to ever grace Combat Sports. The Cameroonian, a former UFC heavyweight champion, once revealed his surprise interaction with Cristiano Ronaldo.

‘The Predator’ claimed he wouldn’t have been surprised if Ronaldo didn’t know who he was. Instead, he received a cordial approach from the Portugal captain. Ngannou once told Shannon Sharpe (via @OneJoblessBoy on X):

“He come like, ‘Hey, what’s up champ?’ And started talking to me. I found out that he knew a lot about me, he knows my story, he knows my fights.”

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Ngannou also received a watch as a gift from Ronaldo ahead of the Tyson Fury boxing match last year. It was worth over £110K, as per estimations. However, Ngannou claimed that the time he spent with the Portuguese superstar was worth much more than that.