Telegram CEO accepts former UFC champ Khabib’s challenge: ‘Send location, brother’

Founder and CEO of Telegram Pavel Durov has accepted the invitation from former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

In a post on Elon Musk owned platform X (formerly Twitter), Khabib’s team asked the head of the messaging app to come and train with the “brotherhood:”

TeamKhabib wrote, “Brother Durov, I see you always in the gym, I think it’s time you come and train with the brotherhood.”

The tech billionaire immediately accepted the invitation. He replied to the post, writing, “Send location, brother.”

For the unversed, “Send me location” is a signature catchphrase of Khabib, who directed it against another MMA fighter Conor McGregor before their bout on October 6, 2018.

He later used it jokingly at several occasions, most notably directing it at former football star Patrice Evra ahead of the latter’s MMA debut in 2025 and UFC head Dana White.

Khabib and Durov are both from Russia. Khabib, 37, is a former undisputed and undefeated lightweight champion with a record 29-0 scorecard.

Durov is a 41-year-old tech entrepreneur with an estimated net worth of around $17.1 billion as per Forbes.

The friendly invitation and its immediate acceptance has generated a lot of buzz on the internet. One user wrote on X, “Next UFC champ Pavel Nurmagomedov,” another penned, “Khabib extending an invitation and durov about to learn that coding muscles do not translate when the mats get serious.”