The head of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Dana White made a powerful preview of the fights that will be included in the summer card of the UFC Fight Night series. The show will take place on June 22 in Saudi Arabia, and you really want to count down the remaining days until it:
- UndefeatedKhamzat Chimaev against ex-league champion Robert Whittaker (challenger match in the middle weight category);
- Sergey PavlovichvsAlexandra Volkova, the battle of our heavyweights;
- Top showdown of Kelvin Gastelum vs. Daniel Rodriguez;
- Johnny Walkerafter a knockout from Magomed Ankalaev will share the cage with Volkan Oezdemir;
- Russian Sharabutdin Magomedov, known as Shara Bullet, against the Ukrainian Igor Poteri.
The latest poster amazed fans who, in the context of the military conflict between the two countries, did not expect to see a Russian-Ukrainian confrontation in the main MMA promotion of the world.
The domestic athlete wanted another opponent. After a bright debut in October (a unanimous decision victory over the Brazilian Bruno Silva in Abu Dhabi), the undefeated Bullet challenged ex-challenger Marvin Vettori (top 5 in the middle division), and the Italian, to everyone’s surprise, agreed to such an adventure .
“The pirate guy asked me again, and all I can say is that I accept the request with open arms. As they say, be careful what you wish for, because you may come true,” Vettori wrote on social networks.
An excellent springboard for the Russian towards the title. The triumph over a tough opponent, who had victories over Kevin Holland, Paulo Costa and Roman Dolidze, practically guaranteed Bullet a contender's meeting… However, it seems that the UFC was afraid to give such an experienced opponent to the new star so quickly.
Instead of Vettori, Bullet received the Ukrainian light heavyweight Loser, who, despite an unconvincing record in the UFC, made a splash overseas.
- knocked out and sent into retirement the famous Mauricio Rua. After which he angered his fans with a “duelist dance” from the defeated Brazilian. “I pulled out a gun, but I didn’t shoot at Rua. I shot in the air because I respect my opponent,” the Ukrainian representative later explained at a press conference;
- having made his way into league through Dana White's challenger series, suffered three early defeats in five fights under the auspices of the UFC;
- in the last fight on February 10, Lose defeated Pole Robert Bryzek by unanimous decision.
But for the Russian, the native of Kyiv is no match. Neither in terms of status in the promotion, nor in terms of the volume of the name. Well, how can we forget about politics: except for Ankalaev’s fight against Nikita Krylov, who represented Ukraine at that time (Shakhtar entered the last matches without a flag), we won’t remember such posters in 2020.
But the UFC simply doesn’t care what happens outside the sports sphere. After February 2022, White did not cancel the Russian flag, did not deprive our fans of the opportunity to watch tournaments (a “warm” greeting to the Bellator management) and gave title fights to athletes from Russia. Moreover, at the top of the ranking, regardless of weight categories (P4P), is Islam Makhachev.
There is no doubt that with such matchmaking the promotion wants not only to show its individuality, but also to once again give a signal to the world: Don’t interfere with sports and politics, everyone loses as a result. In Saudi Arabia, the UFC is important to prevent a scandal and make every effort to ensure that the Bullet-Loss fight is limited to a showdown in the octagon.
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"There are a lot of things going on in this company, you can’t control absolutely everything. It is impossible to micromanage everything. Sometimes things are done for the right reasons or something else… Basically, “I don't give a damn” – here is the answer to most questions. Everyone is too soft, everyone is too sensitive to everything.
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