Magomedrasul "Frodo" Khasbulaev DESTROYED bellators featherweight tournament when he was there and never even got his title shot and even then he never fought for them again! This guy shouldve been in the UFC 5 years ago anyway he's absolutely viscious
What happened to Frodo Khasbulaev?
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I think he had visa issues. I remember being stoked when he and Shamhalayev were making their way though the Bellator tournaments.
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He's been fighting for Russian promotions for the last two years. Recently he has been fighting mainly for Ramzan Kadyrov's Akhmat Fight Club (WFCA). He actually just fought last week and beat a pretty solid prospect Dzhihad Yunusov.
I am sure Ramzan is paying him a ton to fight in his promotion so he might not have a lot of monetized incentive to go to the UFC and fight for 16k/16k.
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Didn't he have ties to isis or some shit
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https://www.mmafighting.com/2015/1/...ies-in-mma-where-has-former-bellator-standout
Before Khasbulaev was going to get his title shot against Curran, his visa was revoked. It remains unclear exactly why. Khasbulaev's team blames Bellator, while Bellator, now under a new regime, denies having anything to do with it.
Magomedov said Khasbulaev was given something of an ultimatum after the tournament win. Bellator wanted him to sign a new deal and Khasbulaev didn't like the terms. He wanted to negotiate. Magomedov said Bellator brass told Khasbulaev "there would be problems in the future" if he didn't re-sign the deal.
"Bellator was in a rush," said Magomedov, who was not Khasbulaev's manager at the time. "They were really in a hurry. They were really pushing him."
Khasbulaev wanted to wait and discuss it more. A few months later, when he attempted to re-apply for a visa, he was turned down. Magomedov said it wasn't until Khasbulaev tried another time to come to the United States last year, after new Bellator president Scott Coker took over, that he was told by the consulate that Bellator was the one who rescinded his visa.
Bellator denies that allegation. The organization told MMAFighting.com in a statement that they "encountered difficulties obtaining a working visa" for him.
"As a result we are releasing him from Bellator, so he can continue fighting elsewhere," Bellator said in the statement. "Frodo is a great fighter and we wish him the best moving forward."
Internal e-mail exchanges obtained by MMAFighting.com back up Bellator's claims. Tracy Lesetar-Smith, Bellator's lead counsel, tells Coker in one of the correspondences that the U.S. government revoked Khasbulaev's visa and that Bellator believed "he was flagged for a security check, which usually means that the government has red-flagged him for organized crime or terrorism ties, and once flagged, the Department of State will not issue a visa unless it is conclusively proven to be false."
So, yeah, visa issues. What a shame.
Before Khasbulaev was going to get his title shot against Curran, his visa was revoked. It remains unclear exactly why. Khasbulaev's team blames Bellator, while Bellator, now under a new regime, denies having anything to do with it.
Magomedov said Khasbulaev was given something of an ultimatum after the tournament win. Bellator wanted him to sign a new deal and Khasbulaev didn't like the terms. He wanted to negotiate. Magomedov said Bellator brass told Khasbulaev "there would be problems in the future" if he didn't re-sign the deal.
"Bellator was in a rush," said Magomedov, who was not Khasbulaev's manager at the time. "They were really in a hurry. They were really pushing him."
Khasbulaev wanted to wait and discuss it more. A few months later, when he attempted to re-apply for a visa, he was turned down. Magomedov said it wasn't until Khasbulaev tried another time to come to the United States last year, after new Bellator president Scott Coker took over, that he was told by the consulate that Bellator was the one who rescinded his visa.
Bellator denies that allegation. The organization told MMAFighting.com in a statement that they "encountered difficulties obtaining a working visa" for him.
"As a result we are releasing him from Bellator, so he can continue fighting elsewhere," Bellator said in the statement. "Frodo is a great fighter and we wish him the best moving forward."
Internal e-mail exchanges obtained by MMAFighting.com back up Bellator's claims. Tracy Lesetar-Smith, Bellator's lead counsel, tells Coker in one of the correspondences that the U.S. government revoked Khasbulaev's visa and that Bellator believed "he was flagged for a security check, which usually means that the government has red-flagged him for organized crime or terrorism ties, and once flagged, the Department of State will not issue a visa unless it is conclusively proven to be false."
So, yeah, visa issues. What a shame.
He's still been fighting in Russia. 6-2 since being cut by Bellator including a win over Kurt Holobaugh. A lot of the Russian guys still make more in Russia than they do in the US because of how much dirty money is thrown to MMA fighters in that region. He did take some losses to Salman Zhamaldaev (14-1) and Eduard Vartanyan (17-3) since Bellator, but he's only 30 and he could potentially get his visa issues taken care of in the future.
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Khasbulaev vs Sandro is one of my favorite soul stealing fights of all time. Khasbulaev beat him into the living death.
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Bellators been treating their Russian fighters like shit, whether it be preventing the HW champ to compete elsewhere, or fucking people over when it comes to work visa issues. So more and more Russians got the message.
WSOF is probably the best org for incoming Russian fighters, besides the UFC.
WSOF is probably the best org for incoming Russian fighters, besides the UFC.
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Bumping this thread. Dude hasn't fought since 2021. Any chance he's coming back?! Quite possibly one of the most underrated fighters of all time.
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I doubt it, it seems he didn't want to fight Suleymanov. Probably even less chance he wants Islam Omarov
