Khabib: 'It's really hard to sign Russian fighters to UFC because they beat EVERYBODY!'

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Cliffs:

Talks about the event his promotion put on,and his intention for it to be a gateway for some to the UFC.

Says they are pushing Usman Nurmagomedov's career in Bellator slowly.

Says that he knows who Fedor's opponent is (I suppose this was before it was revealed) and that he wants easy opponents for Fedor at his age.

Islam has a minor injury from his last fight. Not serious.

Says that he hopes that Dagestani fighters wouldnt have to fight each other in Bellator,but if it happens,it happens. It already has happened on his own cards.
 
Happens to Brazilians too. But usually they just get stuck fighting unranked killers until they lose or get out of their prime. Just look at Trinaldo and Zaleski.

Even Vicente Luque experienced the same problem, but he just kept winning.
 
And we know the actual reason why

New-USADA-Emblem-wOutline.Final_.png
 
He's right. The UFC values diversity a lot, in nationalities, in fight styles, etc. So they want to keep the number of CIS area fighters, East Euros/West Asians at a manageable level, particularly if they already come from overrepresented countries. If they let anyone who is good enough to win fights come in then they'll end up more like Bellator, which is a more meritocratic promotion, but you're already starting to see in Bellator everyone is either an American wrestler or a Caucasian wrestler, and you don't appeal to that many markets because for the Americans from non-wrestling backgrounds or nationals of mostly every non-CIS country, they just come in and take the L.
 
Number one bullshit.

Christ, how many highly-touted Russians have come into the UFC only to underwhelm? There's been a ton. These Russians do great in their own events in Russia, then when facing real competition it's not so easy.

How many Russian UFC champs have there been? Khabib, Petr Yan, Oleg Taktarov won the UFC 6 tournament... who else?
 
Not just Russians but even fighters that grew up in countries that were once part of the Soviet Union or were close to Soviet Union. Tons of killers in Armenia and some parts of Romania since sambo incorporates Armenian and Romanian martial arts.
 
Chimaev came to the UFC with only 6-0 and i think he only fought one russian in his whole career (9-0).
 
The UFC has an absolutely pitiful quota on Russian talent set at 30 fighters and a good chunk of that quota is wasted on so-so fighters like Volkov.

Now this is interesting. Do you have a source for the claim that the UFC assigns national quotas to fighters from different regions, and for your more specific claim that their quota for Russian fighters is 30?
 
It only makes sense for the UFC to try to keep their signings as diversified as possible. Even if what Khabib says holds some weight. The UFC isn’t about to become a 100% Russian fighting org. That would be company suicide.

Take the ones you think are really special. And let the minors share the rest. Maybe some of those will work their way up to the UFC.

But, on the face of it, it’s clear hyperbole. And a self serving comment. He’s trying to get guys signed that he has a stake in. Wouldn’t you think Khabib would want all these great Russians for his Eagle fighting promotion? That seems like a much better idea.
 
It only makes sense for the UFC to try to keep their signings as diversified as possible. Even if what Khabib says holds some weight. The UFC isn’t about to become a 100% Russian fighting org. That would be company suicide.

Take the ones you think are really special. And let the minors share the rest. Maybe some of those will work their way up to the UFC.

But, on the face of it, it’s clear hyperbole. And a self serving comment. He’s trying to get guys signed that he has a stake in. Wouldn’t you think Khabib would want all these great Russians for his Eagle fighting promotion? That seems like a much better idea.
His promotion will probably get a raised profile if ufc keeps signing some of their guys.
 
Not just Russians but even fighters that grew up in countries that were once part of the Soviet Union or were close to Soviet Union. Tons of killers in Armenia and some parts of Romania since sambo incorporates Armenian and Romanian martial arts.
You must be armenian...sambo incorporates armenian and romanian martial arts lmao
 
There has been a small handful of Russian high level fighters in the UFC to begin with. The UFC has an absolutely pitiful quota on Russian talent set at 30 fighters and a good chunk of that quota is wasted on so-so fighters like Volkov. Obviously, the UFC doesn't want to have too many actually talented Russians on the roster, because they cater to the domestic US market first and foremost. If Russians had the same number of fighters in the UFC as Americans do, every division from BW to LHW would be dominated by Russians. Russia only has problems with producing HW MMA talent.
No. You're like so close but yet so far. The UFC doesn't cater to the US market. The UFC caters to a DIVERSE market. The UFC loves bringing in fighters from every corner of the world and hyping them up to tap into more markets. You're right that Russian fighters aren't signed but that's not to preserve US supremacy, that's to preserve diversity. For example, if Conor had met Khabib before he won his two titles, or if he was a young fighter coming up in the current era and had to fight Islam or Arman or Movsar, or other wrestlers from CIS countries like Topuria, so on and so forth, he never would have achieved his stardom and captured all the European fans that he has. That's why the Russian cap. That's why even there are many top american prospects who don't get signed. There's a quieter but undeniable cap on american fighters as well. There are fighters on the come up right now who could be that next big exciting UFC star whose paths to the top are being stalled or altogether blocked because of a logjam of Russians and Americans, it's even worse in Bellator because Bellator is more of a meritocracy.
 
You must be armenian...sambo incorporates armenian and romanian martial arts lmao

Let me fucking embarrass you:

Web capture_5-8-2021_191731_en.wikipedia.org.jpeg

Right there!

Armenian kokh, Romanian trîntǎ.They use Armenian and Romanian wrestling which is martial arts.
 
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