Insert kicking joke here.
UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor may have gotten a footwork pointer or two from a recent VIP visitor: soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo, McGregor and McGregor's coach, John Kavanagh, all posted photos of the encounter to their respective Instagram accounts on Sunday.
The meeting took place at McGregor's current training headquarters in Las Vegas.
As most sports fans know, Ronaldo is fresh off captaining the Portuguese national team to victory in the Euro 2016 tournament. And this came about six weeks after Ronaldo-led Real Madrid won the UEFA Champions League.
There was no word on whether they actually did any training work together, in MMA, soccer or anything else. Regardless, it was certainly a fun photo op.
Said photo op comes as McGregor begins to ramp up his own formidable one-man hype machine in advance of his rematch with Nate Diaz at UFC 202.
At the event, which takes place on August 20 in Las Vegas, McGregor (19-3) will attempt to avenge his only loss to date in the UFC, which occurred in March at UFC 196.
The original bout between McGregor and Diaz occurred at welterweight and on short notice after McGregor's original opponent, lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos, suffered an injury. It was the first time McGregor competed at 170 pounds.
Unaccustomed to carrying that extra weight while in the cage, McGregor grew tired, and Diaz took him to the ground and submitted him with a rear-naked choke in the final minute of the second round.
It was a major setback for McGregor, who was 7-0 in the UFC at the time and fresh off his 13-second knockout victory over Jose Aldo in December, which saw him capture the featherweight belt.
McGregor and Diaz were originally scheduled for a rematch at UFC 200, but a kerfuffle between McGregor and UFC brass put an end to that. Not long after, however, the bout was scheduled for UFC 202.
