Nostradamus wasn't really clear on this point, but some of the translations shed some light on this. Its a little known fact that "putin" means "mountain" in Russian, and thats where the phrase, "If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad will go to the mountain" comes from.

Also, it was overheard (in the mid 16th century) that Nostradamus was asked to bet on the fight and Nosy replied, "I'm putin my money on Ali", which further confused the issue.