An athlete as good as Michael Phelps may discover it exhausting to go away the game behind and regulate to his retirement life. However Phelps appears to be taking advantage of it after having his time on the heart stage. Lately, the swimmer spends most of his time together with his household of six in Arizona. As a toddler of divorced dad and mom, he enjoys doing small things with this family, like consuming dinner collectively, as he was not used to this earlier than. “As a child, I at all times wished to have dinner as a household, however with my dad and mom separated, that didn’t occur,” he revealed to Model.com.
Nonetheless, his quieter life doesn’t imply Michael Phelps has left his ardour for sports activities behind. The legendary swimmer has beforehand expressed his love for baseball, golf, and lacrosse. Curiously, Phelps additionally has a eager curiosity in MMA and has often been noticed within the viewers at main fights. Forward of the extremely anticipated UFC 309 primary occasion, the match’s social media group reached out to Phelps for his prediction. Unsurprisingly, he sided with the fan favourite to take the victory.
Michael Phelps picks Jon Jones because the winner of the principle occasion of the UFC 309
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The UFC social media admin messaged Michael Phelps on Instagram and requested about his predictions for the principle occasion heavyweight battle between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic. He was one of many quite a few celebrities like Shaquille O’Neal, Steve-O, and Channing Tatum who bought requested their opinions. Phelps selected Jon Jones with none hesitation, saying, “My man, Jon Bones Jones!!! LFG!!”
This was shared by UFC in an Instagram publish together with the opinions of different celebrities. Michael Phelps shared it on his Instagram story, reiterating his opinion, saying, “Lfg @jonnybones.” Plainly the Olympic legend is basically keen on the UFC fighter, who is taken into account the best MMA fighter of all time by a piece of followers. Jones’ file of 27-1, which incorporates 10 title defenses of his mild heavyweight belt, a class the place he spent most of his profession.
In UFC 309, he’ll defend the heavyweight belt he secured towards Ciryl Gane final 12 months, dealing with off towards Stevie Miocic for the primary time. Whereas Miocic is extensively thought to be one of many best heavyweights in UFC historical past, many followers aren’t favoring him to win. At 42 years outdated and returning to the octagon after a three-year hiatus, his probabilities seem slim in comparison with his youthful, extra lively opponent. Michael Phelps’ prediction displays his considerate and educated tackle the matchup. It’s refreshing to see the legendary swimmer keep his ardour for sports activities, even eight years after his retirement. However his historical past with the UFC is far larger than this.
Michael Phelps’ encounter with UFC fighters
Michael Phelps has at all times had an attention-grabbing historical past with UFC fighters. Whereas some encounters have been flattering to the swimmer, others haven’t been so type. One such story is his assembly with former champion Ronda Rousey, who ended up disliking the swimmer. In a ten-year-old video revealed by ESNEWS, Ronda had described her assembly with Phelps throughout her go to on the Olympic Village through the London video games.
The swimmer apparently didn’t try and make dialog along with her, as a substitute speaking to basketball stars who have been additionally current. “Michael Phelps wanted his personal personal part of the membership to be like personal for him, whereas all these NBA guys who have been larger names have been hanging out with the remainder of us,” she stated. This irritated Ronda, and he or she determined to confront him about it. “Whats up, we’re your teammates; we’re not a bunch of groupies; come hang around with us; who the hell are you?” She additionally claimed that NBA gamers like Kobe Bryant have been hanging out with them and the opposite Olympians, however Phelps was sitting in his personal personal house. Thus, this encounter didn’t finish effectively.
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Nonetheless, the swimming GOAT appears to have bromance with the MMA GOAT Jon Jones, as they’ve interacted over social media earlier than. In August, Jones had uploaded an image having fun with the vacation together with his household. Within the feedback, Phelps playfully challenged him to a swimming contest, saying, “Can we do laps??”
Jones replied ecstatically, “Hell yeah, we are able to! I’d nonetheless find it irresistible in the event you got here down, bro. Or like I stated, I’ll come to you.” Thus, whereas his relationship with Ronda Rousey won’t precisely be nice, Phelps and Jon Jones actually like one another. That is nice to see for each swimming and MMA followers, as high athletes of their sport love interacting with one another.