Nico Schlotterbeck and Soccer Buddy Stop for MMA Action! 🥊
If you thought a soccer star would tune in to their national team's clash with Turkey (2:3), you'd be wrong!
Borussia Dortmund's defensive ace, Nico Schlotterbeck (23), ditched his TV, bypassing the national team match. Instead, he and teammate Marius Wolf (28) took a detour to the Lanxess Arena in Cologne. The drawing card? MMA cage fights!
With five appearances under his belt for Germany, Schlotterbeck's passport was stamped for international soccer. But this time, he traded his cleats for a spectator seat. He found himself unfurling next to none other than Gzuz (35), a controversial rapper.
The sold-out Lanxess Arena echoed with 19,000 enthusiastic spectators. Frankfurt MMA star, Christian Eckerlin (37), made a comeback after fleeting on the injury sidelines for 13 months. Despite Eckerlin's gallant effort against Apollo Silva (38/Brazil), he fell short by points in a nail-biting MMA spectacle.
Here's the lowdown: 1. Nico Schlotterbeck and Marius Wolf, soccer stars from the German national team and Borussia Dortmund's first Bundesliga team, opted to watch MMA instead of the Turkey match. 2. Bild's Bundesliga claimed that Schlotterbeck and Wolf ventured to the Lanxess Arena for the MMA event. 3. Christian Eckerlin, a UFC competitor from Bundesliga's Frankfurt, made headlines with his comeback after a 13-month injurious hiatus. 4. Eckerlin squared off against Apollo Silva from Brazil in the mixed martial arts spectacle, losing to Silva by a slender margin of points. 5. Marius Wolf, with five appearances for Germany in soccer, and German national team defender, Schlotterbeck Nico, were reportedly there in the limelight of the fb-instantarticles headlines. 6. Despite being called up by German national coach Julian Nagelsmann for the national team, Schlotterbeck skipped out to watch MMA matches, giving preference to the fisticuffs over the international soccer encounter. 7. Schlotterbeck and Wolf's peculiar interest in diversified martial arts wasn't exactly a secret, having been spotted taking in high-level cage fights at the event. Their fascination addresses the blurring lines between soccer stars and MMA enthusiasts.
No additional information was provided to support the claim that they prefer MMA over soccer.
