UFC bias against signing Russian fighters?

[Dillashaw's Monkey Kick]

Most of those Russian fighters are boring wrestlers good enough to win most but not win against the best. They basically employ a safe wall and stall tactic to avoid all risks and try to win on points. There are exceptions, obviously, but most of them are only useful to derail exciting fighters and serve as gatekeepers to the top 15. I for one am happy there are no more Russian wrestlers in the UFC

 

[Fox by the Sea]

There are more Brazil fighters cuz they are good for TV

proof

Brazil man


russian/dagestani man

congrats on choosing Grigori Perelman as the average russian.

 

[Rebel_LioN]

There’s dozens of fighters from that region that are absolute killers but nobody can pronounce their names for marketing reasons.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

It's not that random. It is, after all, an American promotion. How many Americans are on the ACA or M-1 rosters?

ACA has 11 Americans on it's roster. The difference with UFC is it presents itself as a worldwide promotion.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

yeah, that's their excuse -- the UFC won't take them because they discriminate against Russians.

Not that these guys are all on PEDs and couldn't pass USADA if their lives depended on it.

It's not just the Russians of course. Like Amir Aliakbari, whom the UFC signed, then had to dump because he was on a lifetime WADA ban for PEDs. And the local paper said he couldn't get a visa due to sanctions on Iran or some bald-faced lie.

One of the articles explicitly states that there are fighters who aren't trying to get into the UFC because they know they'd fail USADA testing. The ones that are actively trying to get in have presumably taken that into account.

 

[Blazmo]

Only a few percent of the roster but a higher percentage of the ranked roster, or it wouldnt be a "problem".

Like the OP says it's the # of Russian names in the top 15 of each division that UFC is concerned about, not the # of Russians in the roster.

There's barely any Russians in the top 15s of all the divisions despite the fact Russians are the third most common nationality in the UFC and tied for #2 with Brazil at heavyweight with none in the top 5 there. I have to say, a lot of this stuff seems like a load of hot air intended to mask the awkward juxtaposition between how Russians are portrayed in the media vs how they actually are in real life. We've seen what happens when these undefeated Russian phenoms get signed to a major American promotion with the PFL: They get destroyed or put on some of the worst fights you'll ever see, and all of that's assuming they don't pop for roids first. The fact of the matter is, Russia doesn't really have a good track record in combat sports outside of wrestling. There's no doubt Russians can grapple and I have been impressed by the great technical abilities a lot of them display but time after time they run into someone who can stuff their takedowns long enough to KO them then they disappear into irrelevance again and everyone moves on to the next Russian hypejob.

 

[jsbx45]

ACA has 11 Americans on it's roster. The difference with UFC is it presents itself as a worldwide promotion.

So does the ACA, just saying.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Those are not the best fighters. I've been to PFL events and seen the difference: it isnt just quality, but finishing ability. These Dagi fighters are a one dimensional bore.

I think if there were more Slavic sluggers and brawlers, the UFC would be in. But Dagi wrestlers, some of whom cant get a visa ala Abdulmanap? No thanks.

Of the PFL ones I agree that Ali Isaev is boring and watching Islam Mamedov should be reserved for torture purposes but I think Movlid Khaibulaev, Nikolay Aleksakhin, Akhmet Aliev and Denis Goltsov are all exciting enough. A lot of boring PFL fighters are also American like Jared Rosholt, Andre Harrison, Lance Palmer and Jordan Johnson.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

The entire concept here is flawed.
The UFC is a business, they'll sign anyone who can make them money.
There is absolutely no chance that there is a quota on the number of fighters from a particular country.

It's not a concept as such, it's just reporting what the managers of Russian fighters are saying. They're actively stating that a rough cap exists.

 

[Greg House]

They have 36 Russian fighters and 101 Brazilian ones, I'm not sure the average quality of Russian fighter is lower than the average brazilian fighter these days.

The average brazilian comes from a Muay Thai or BJJ background. So they either knock people out or easiliy submit them. People like watching thaose kind of fighters, regardless of their nationality.

The average russians can only shoot for a takedown and spend the entire fight hugging their opponent's crotch. People don't want to see that, specially if they are not even from their same country so they can't even "support" one of the fighters.

Also I call BS on that whole quality thing. Zabit wins and everyone here gets excited for Russia and he is the future champ and blablabla. Ferreira wins and he is just another brazilian contender. Russian contenders are rare but there are so many brazilian contenders out there that people don't even care that much when a new one shows up.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

There's barely any Russians in the top 15s of all the divisions despite the fact Russians are the third most common nationality in the UFC and tied for #2 with Brazil at heavyweight with none in the top 5 there. I have to say, a lot of this stuff seems like a load of hot air intended to mask the awkward juxtaposition between how Russians are portrayed in the media vs how they actually are in real life. We've seen what happens when these undefeated Russian phenoms get signed to a major American promotion with the PFL: They get destroyed or put on some of the worst fights you'll ever see, and all of that's assuming they don't pop for roids first. The fact of the matter is, Russia doesn't really have a good track record in combat sports outside of wrestling. There's no doubt Russians can grapple and I have been impressed by the great technical abilities a lot of them display but time after time they run into someone who can stuff their takedowns long enough to KO them then they disappear into irrelevance again and everyone moves on to the next Russian hypejob.

I'm not sure the UFC and PFL have signed the best Russian prospects though. They tend to pick up Fight Nights Global and M1 guys rather than ACA guys. If you look at the record of ACA guys coming over to the UFC it's pretty good (Zabit Magomedsharipov, Petr Yan, Askar Askarov are all from there).

11 Russians are ranked in the UFC, which is 30% of the Russians on the roster, I don't think that's too bad.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

So does the ACA, just saying.

They don't run any shows in North America though (or at least haven't in years) and there's obviously a big financial difference in ability to regularly bring people in from foreign countries. Also most US prospects are smart enough to not go to ACA as it's a pretty tough route to the big time compared to staying on the regionals.

 

[grimballer]

USA mma organization doesn’t want to be dominated by Superior Russian fighters, so of course they gonna limit the number of Russians n use them as gatekeepers

 

[Beherit]

Need more Ivan Drago style fighters and less hug n tugs

hopefully ivan drogo was a movie boxer not a real MMA fighter, so out of subject

 

[Blazmo]

I'm not sure the UFC and PFL have signed the best Russian prospects though. They tend to pick up Fight Nights Global and M1 guys rather than ACA guys. If you look at the record of ACA guys coming over to the UFC it's pretty good (Zabit Magomedsharipov, Petr Yan, Askar Askarov are all from there).

11 Russians are ranked in the UFC, which is 30% of the Russians on the roster, I don't think that's too bad.

That's 10 Russians actually which is about 27% while 32% of Brazilians are ranked. Obviously Russians aren't doing as well or aren't anything special despite years of hype advertising them as the next big thing in MMA.

 

[Blazmo]

I'm not sure the UFC and PFL have signed the best Russian prospects though. They tend to pick up Fight Nights Global and M1 guys rather than ACA guys. If you look at the record of ACA guys coming over to the UFC it's pretty good (Zabit Magomedsharipov, Petr Yan, Askar Askarov are all from there).

11 Russians are ranked in the UFC, which is 30% of the Russians on the roster, I don't think that's too bad.

Only Petr Yan and Zabit are somewhat legit but neither have proven to be champions yet, and who tf is Askar Askarov?

 

[Negator402]

Of the PFL ones I agree that Ali Isaev is boring and watching Islam Mamedov should be reserved for torture purposes but I think Movlid Khaibulaev, Nikolay Aleksakhin, Akhmet Aliev and Denis Goltsov are all exciting enough. A lot of boring PFL fighters are also American like Jared Rosholt, Andre Harrison, Lance Palmer and Jordan Johnson.

Aliev was the one that really hit me. He had 25 lb of muscle on Istrefin and couldn't finish. And he won the tourney!!

Many of the PFLs American fighters also are boring. But they use a far higher percentage of Russians and Caucasians and they are proportionately more dreadful to watch.

 

[San Griente]

an english teacher beat the shit out of "the next big Thing" aka pink goofs cash cow.

The way he downplayed Roxys win was emberassing and he even said she isnt Ready for a top 5 .. which means = shes not good for TV.

Didn’t know he said that. Sherdog’s analysis before the fight was disgraceful too. Almost everyone here said Barber was going to kill Roxanne. I don’t know what they were seeing; did they watch round one of Aldrich/Barber?

Barber had nothing for Modafferi.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Only Petr Yan and Zabit are somewhat legit but neither have proven to be champions yet, and who tf is Askar Askarov?

Flyweight fighter, looked really good in his last fight.

 

[rushbeg]

USA mma organization doesn’t want to be dominated by Superior Russian fighters, so of course they gonna limit the number of Russians n use them as gatekeepers

There are plenty of ethnic Russian fighters in the UFC , It’s just that they are not as good as you’re making them to be. Of course you’re gonna shill for your fellow slavs though.

Since we’re talking about nations that don’t have many mma fighters , I wish that MMA was more developed here and actually paid better so we could see Albanians dominate the sport.

 

[San Griente]

I think the whole crotch-sniffer thing is a bit overplayed really. If you look at the UFC roster then you can definitively say that Zabit, Yan, Volkov, Yana, Pavlovich, Safarov, Ibragimov, Salikhov,


Flyweight fighter, looked really good in his last fight.

Hate to be a well-akshually guy, but Askar got KO’d in round 1 last night

edit: different guy. Askarov is still undefeated.