Daniel Ricciardo is a huge fan of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) – he weighed in on UFC 284 recently
Daniel Ricciardo was rooting for Australian UFC fighter Alexander Volkanovski in UFC 284. “Awesome fights so far. Perth looks great it’s now time, let’s go @alexvolkanovski”, the F1 veteran wrote on Twitter. However, Volkanovski eventually lost the clash to his Russian opponent Islam Makhachev.
Volkanovski suffered a unanimous defeat against Makhachev in front of a sell-out crowd in Perth. Makhachev achieved multiple takedowns and withstood a final-round barrage to claim a unanimous points victory and seize the UFC’s No 1 pound-for-pound ranking. The home crowd was understandably disappointed to see their local star lose and booed the victor but a humble Volkanovski urged them to cheer for him instead.
Daniel Ricciardo is set to be Red Bull’s third driver in the 2023 season
Ricciardo’s time as a full-time driver in Formula One seems to have come to an end. The veteran racing driver was earlier replaced by Oscar Piastri at McLaren before he was roped in by Red Bull as their backup driver for the upcoming season. Ricciardo will play the role of a deputy driver to Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez this season.
Ricciardo had a contract with McLaren till the end of the 2023 season but it was terminated by the UK-based team last season. The McLaren management felt that the former Red Bull and Renault driver has not met his expectations since his arrival at the team last year. Although Ricciardo ended McLaren’s nine-year winning drought with victory at the Italian Grand Prix last season, he has consistently been outperformed by Britain’s Lando Norris. Norris has qualified ahead of Ricciardo at 11 of the 13 races in 2022, and has scored 57 points more than his teammate.
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