Erdoğan meets MMA champ at opening of Istanbul Airport
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) champion Khabib Nurmagomedov on Monday during the opening of Istanbul Airport. Nurmagomedov, from Russia's northern Caucasus Republic of Dagestan, is a professional MMA. He is also the first Russian and first Muslim to win the UFC lightweight championship.
- Türkiye
- A News
- Published Date: 12:00 | 29 October 2018
- Modified Date: 11:25 | 30 October 2018
Russian mixed martial arts fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov attended late Monday the grand opening ceremony of Istanbul Airport, which is set to be the world's largest.
The fighter also met with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after the ceremony.
Completed within 42 months, Istanbul's new airport will also be home to the world's largest duty-free shopping complex.
By the year's end, the new airport will be able to handle up to 90 million passengers annually with a 1.4 million square meter terminal building, ranking in the world's top five. The number will rise to 200 million passengers when all facilities are complete and will become the world's largest airport.
Nurmagomedov, a 30-year-old Russian, kept his UFC lightweight crown with a fourth-round submission victory over Ireland's McGregor in Las Vegas, improving to 27-0 in his professional career and 11-0 in UFC bouts.