Should I introduce myself to a stranger at the gym?

I am active on Twitter/X on football related pages and sites, commenting, retweeting etc. I have also subscribed to a podcast who posts on the platform as well. It is a smaller base of football fans with a couple of hundred men. A year ago or so I liked a guy's comment and I recognized that we go to the same gym. I think he recognized me as well but I am not sure, we always tend to make eyecontact or at least I think so. But very much time has passed and it would be awkward to initiate a chat with him in real life. On the other hand i would really love to because i want to make friends and he seems nice.