UFC fighters being released from the promotion despite having winning records has become a notable trend in recent times, and retired legend Khabib Nurmagomedov is now speaking out against it.
The latest example of this happened earlier this month when Russian fighter Rinat Fakhretdinov wasn’t given a new UFC deal despite having compiled six wins and a draw during his time in the Octagon.
The suggestion is that fighters like Fakhretdinov have been deemed to be not entertaining or marketable enough to remain on the roster, which Khabib argues shouldn’t be a factor under consideration in a sport like this.
“I feel very bad for U.S. promotions — very, very bad,” Nurmagomedov said at the World Sports Summit. “Because there are so many hungry fighters coming, and they don’t like to talk, they don’t like trash talk. They just come, smash people, and take money. And U.S. promotions, they don’t like this. They like trash talking, they like entertainment.
“I understand. In one way, it’s business. But at end of day, this is sport. It’s sport. One-on-one, you go alone inside of cage, and we’ll see who is the best in the world.”
Khabib went on to discuss his fears that many talented up-and-coming fighters from Dagestan could find it difficult to break through if things stay the way they are currently.
“A lot of young guys coming,” Nurmagomedov said. “For example, in my gym — I have a couple of gyms in Dagestan — and there are 500 amateur guys, and they all want to be like Khabib. They all want to be champion. They all want to take over in the world, and they’re all good. What are we going to do with them? Like, how are you going to stop them?
“It’s very hard, or just not sign them. Right now, I see some promotions, they follow the politics and just don’t sign them because they’re tired. Because all Magomedov, Nurmagomedov, they jump to the UFC and take over. In the last couple of years, they changed a little bit of politics, and I don’t like this, to be honest.”
Khabib went on to urge others to speak out to try to force a change in policy so that the best fighters in the world can rise to the top, rather than just the most entertaining and outspoken ones.
“At the end of the day, like I said, this is sport. It has to be fair,” Nurmagomedov said. “And even in the last couple of years, we saw so many fighters cut. They cut so many fighters that don’t even lose in UFC. They just finish contract, they don’t give them new contract.
“Honestly, somebody has to talk about this, and I think this is not fair. This is what I don’t like.”
