On the night of March 9, the UFC 313 tournament will be held. It will be debuted by the Russian heavyweight of Rizwan Kuniev, who will fight against the most experienced Curtis Blaids (fifth line of the rating). This will be a real test for the right to be in the best league of the world.

It is well known that for the Bosses and Matchmakers UFC the first impression often becomes decisive. A bright early victory is able to immediately arrange the authorities. But if the athlete shows a boring, dirty or simply poor -quality battle, then he dares to fall out of disgrace and even say goodbye to the contract. Moreover, this happened in the recent past.

Referee and president did not spare the Russian

In 2019, the UFC signed a contract with the champion of Russian promoted M-1 Roman Bogutov. The transfer occurred within the framework of the agreement between organizations. There were 10 victories in a row on the romance, he was the dominant champion of our League and for a long time was waiting for the opportunity to get into the American one.

Bogatov made his debut only in June 2020 in a duel with a UFC lightweight veteran Leonardo Santos. And it so happened that the most important battle in the career of a Russian became the worst in life. Roman with a bang lost, fell into a scandal, after which he was fired.

Leonardo Santos and Roman Bogatov / Photo: © Handout / Handout / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Probably, Bogatov simply could not cope with the nerves. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain why he looked so weak. In the first round, the Russian did not show anything sensible. The novel slipped a couple of times, almost missing the most difficult blows, but was remembered only with a poke in the opponent’s eye.

In the second segment of the Russian, a total failure was waiting for. Santos dropped the opponent on Canvas and almost killed in the stalls. By some miracle, Bogatov survived the onslaught, but lost the second round in a row. It became obvious that only an early victory can save the situation.

Who would have thought that it was the final five -minute to finally deprive the Russian a chance of success and, as it later turned out to be continuing his career in the UFC. Bogatov twice hit the opponent groin, and also struck his knee in the head when Santos was at three points of the support. The referee each time verbally warned the novel, but after the third for the round of violations, he removed two points from it. As a result, Bogatov predictably lost by the decision of the judges.

Immediately after the fight in the media, information appeared that the head of the League Dane White was extremely dissatisfied with the Russian performance and decided to expel him. As it turned out, the rumors did not go far from the truth. A month after the battle, Bogatov was fired from the UFC for violation of the rules.

Roman Bogatov / Photo: © JEFF BOTTARI / CONTRIBUTOR / UFC / Gettyimages.ru

At the same time, the novel itself categorically rejected the official version and said that the organization deliberately got rid of it. In addition, Bogatov accused the opponent of simulating, and in social networks, even before dismissal, he insulted the referee for biased refereeing.

Whatever the Russian says, the fact is that he showed a depressingly weak performance, and a violation of the rules in at least two episodes is not doubted. UFC had no interest to leave a scandalous fighter who managed to earn a nasty reputation in one battle.

I would like to believe that Rizwan Kuniev will not repeat the path of Bogatov, but will be able to prove himself from the best side. In case of victory over Blads, the Russian will burst into the race for the title. After one battle, you can only dream of such career prospects, so you must take advantage of the chance.