Watch: Cristiano Ronaldo spared another Conor McGregor meeting as he sits with Anthony Joshua

Cristiano Ronaldo took his seat ringside ahead of Tyson Fury’s showdown with Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday night, and this time he was spared an another awkward interaction with Conor McGregor.

Ronaldo was subjected to a bizarre meeting with UFC legend McGregor back in December when he watched Anthony Joshua defeat Otto Wallin.

McGregor grabbed Ronaldo by the wrist in an apparent attempt to compare designer watches at the end of what looked like a stream of steady ramblings ahead of the fight. This time, Ronaldo was seen wearing a watch reportedly worth around £1.2 million before Fury’s clash.

Instead of another meeting with the Irishman, it was Joshua who took his seat next to the five-time Ballon d’Or winner in Saudi Arabia and the pair exchanged pleasantries as they watched the heavyweight clash between Agit Kabayel and Frank Sanchez. It was a marked difference from Ronaldo’s chat with McGregor last year, where the former Manchester United and Real Madrid forward appeared to lose interest in whatever McGregor had to say.

Ronaldo has taken a keen interest in boxing during his time in Saudi Arabia, where the 39-year-old plays for Al-Nassr.

Joshua, meanwhile, was an interested observer in Riyadh ahead of a potential showdown against the winner of the unification bout.

Joshua suffered two defeats against the Ukrainian, both by points, in 2021 and 2022 but has won four times since then and is in the frame for another crack at the world title.

Fury weighed in at 262lb on Friday and Usyk tipped the scales at 233lb, a career heaviest for the Ukrainian. “I like him with a bit of weight on him,” Lennox Lewis said of Fury ahead of the fight.

WBC champion Fury takes on Usyk, the IBF, WBO and WBA title holder, at the Kingdom Arena as boxing prepares to crown the heavyweight division’s first undisputed champion since Lewis in 1999.