Following a cut up draw within the UFC 282 important occasion that noticed Ramzan Kadyrov’s fighter, Magomed Ankalaev, denied a UFC championship, the Chechen dictator has referred to as out the group and its main determine.
In a uncommon English language social media submit Sunday, Kadyrov took goal at UFC President Dana White and blamed “politics” and “soiled” refereeing because the explanation why Ankalaev was not awarded the vacant light-heavyweight title.
“Dana White, what occurred to you?” Kadyrov wrote to his roughly 3 million followers on Telegram. “You had been a traditional, principled man, and as we speak you took the championship belt out of the ring with out handing it to the clear winner. Or has politics entered the UFC ring and requires you to referee soiled? It’s a sport, Dana. Be trustworthy.”
Kadyrov’s assertion is in reference to the UFC 282 important occasion, which noticed Ankalaev problem Jan Blachowicz for the recently-vacated light-heavyweight title.
Initially scheduled because the co-main occasion of the night, the battle was elevated to the marquee spot on the UFC’s ultimate pay-per-view occasion of the yr after champion Jiri Prochazka suffered a shoulder damage throughout coaching camp and opted to vacate his title.
Although the sudden growth allowed Ankalaev to safe his first title shot on the earth’s main MMA promotion, it additionally served as the most recent instance of a warlord’s ever-growing affect inside the UFC.
Ankalaev is a one in every of a handful of UFC fighters at the moment affiliated with Kadyrov, the strongman chief of Chechnya routinely accused of orchestrating human rights abuses together with assassinations, abductions, torture, extrajudicial killings, and purges focusing on the native LGBTQ+ group.
Their relationship dates again to 2016, when Ankalaev first joined Kadyrov’s Akhmat MMA battle membership, a state-sponsored blended martial arts gymnasium based by Kadyrov himself. Since then, the Dagestan-born fighter has continued to characterize Kadyrov throughout competitors, together with all through his UFC tenure.
Ankalaev has continued to take care of ties to Kadyrov regardless of the U.S. Division of the Treasury prohibiting U.S. residents or individuals current in the USA from doing enterprise with Kadyrov. On the time, the Treasury’s Workplace of Overseas Belongings Management cited “extrajudicial killing, torture, or different gross violations” among the many causes for sanctioning Kadyrov. The U.S. Treasury additionally issued sanctions in 2020 directed at a number of of Kadyrov’s companies, together with Akhmat MMA.
Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov referred to as out UFC President Dana White following the cut up draw within the UFC 282 important occasion.
The end result noticed Kadyrov’s fighter (Ankalaev) denied a UFC title, which the dictator mockingly blamed on “politics” earlier than demanding UFC change the end result pic.twitter.com/zN3LMvXgI7
— Karim Zidan (@ZidanSports) December 11, 2022
Provided that Ankalaev would have been Kadyrov’s first homegrown UFC champion, the dictator is now demanding that the UFC reverse its choice and crown Ankalaev as champion.
“Take an instance from Mairbek Khasiev, (ACA league), who stops any [judging] within the league, any bias, demanding objectivity and never mixing sports activities with politics,” Kadyrov wrote, in reference to the Absolute Championship Akhmat founder who disqualified ACA fighters for being too boring and is thought for reversing judging choices.
“Hey, Dana White, had been are you going? Save the face of the league, your personal face. Admit your mistake, give the belt to the actual winner, and apologize for this present. Save your league’s repute.”
