I played football against World Cup winners – now I’m looking to become champion in completely different sport

CHRISTIAN ECKERLIN played with German World Cup winners during his football days – now they are cheering on his MMA career.

Eckerlin came up against the likes of Mats Hummels and Bastian Schweinsteiger at youth level.

But while they went onto lift Bundesliga titles and even the World Cup in 2014, Eckerlin left behind his football dream to pursue MMA.

He is now one of German’s top stars ...