Mike Tyson recently admitted that he thought Hasbulla was a baby when they met where the boxer picked him up and appeared to nibble his ear.
“That’s how I am with children, I’m hugging on this guy, and he’s like 26 years old. I knew nothing at all!” Tyson said of the meeting, where Hasbulla was 20 years old at the time.
It didn’t seem to put Hasbulla off wanting to have another meeting with the boxer as he said he hoped they could ‘do it again soon’.
Hasbulla is now 22 and is just 102 cm tall, and the reason for that is a condition he has.
The Russian influencer first shot to fame a few years back when he appeared on TikTok, with videos of him and his rival Abdu Rozik going viral online and opening all sorts of doors for him.
He ended up developing a close bond with Khabib, leading some to wonder whether they were related in any way, shape or form, but that’s not the case.
Hasbulla hasn’t spoken about it much himself, but doctors say he is likely to have Growth Hormone Deficiency (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC / Getty Images)
Eventually he ended up signing a five-year promotion deal with the UFC, so nobody was going to make him step into the octagon for a fight but he’s appeared in a bunch of their content.
Hasbulla’s rare condition explained
As for his condition, it’s a form of dwarfism and while he hasn’t really spoken about it very much a doctor said he was likely to have a rare condition called Growth Hormone Deficiency (GHD).
Dr Karan Raj explained that the condition affected the pituitary gland in the brain, which produces hormones that make a person grow.
The gland is located at the base of the brain and carries out a number of important functions in the body including growing.
According to the NHS, the cause of GHD cannot be identified in many cases, but that it is not an inherited trait and can be present from birth.
He signed a deal to work for UFC (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Children diagnosed with GHD can receive growth hormone injections, such as in the case of football legend Lionel Messi.
Messi was diagnosed with GHD in 2011 after doctors noticed he’d hardly grown for years.
He was put on a treatment course of injecting Human Growth Hormone (HGH) into alternating legs every day, which the young Messi had to administer himself.
The cost of his treatment was taken on by Barcelona as part of his deal to join them when he turned 13.
Speaking about his condition, Hasbulla said: “I can’t say that I’m handicapped. I can speak, I understand. I have arms and legs just like others.”
