Fights
The UFC suddenly got rid of the undefeated Russian in the league. The most murky story
The UFC did not renew the contract with Fakhretdinov.
The story of Rinat Fakhretdinov in the UFC looks strange even by the standards of this tough business. The fighter, who had not lost a single fight in the league and finished his last fight with a spectacular knockout, suddenly found himself outside the roster. The contract was simply not renewed.
There were no apparent reasons for such a decision on the part of the main promotion of the planet. This raises questions.
Zero defeats is not an argument?
34-year-old Rinat Fakhretdinov had seven fights in the UFC: six wins and one draw. Not a single defeat. For most fighters, this is a guarantee of new contracts and advancement up the rankings. But in the case of Fakhretdinov, everything worked differently.
More broadly, his professional record in MMA is 26 fights: 24 wins, one draw and only one defeat in his entire career. Moreover, Rinat won his last three fights in the UFC. The last of them took place in September of this year.
At the UFC Fight Night 258 tournament in Paris, Fakhretdinov met with the strong Swede Andreas Gustafsson. The fight lasted less than a round and ended in a technical knockout. Confident, tough and without unnecessary questions. It was a victory, after which it is logical to wait for the next step – a bigger name opposite, a serious test, perhaps a fight with a former champion or the top of the division. But instead there was silence, and then news of exclusion from the roster.
“I wasn’t fired”
Fakhretdinov himself immediately set the accents. In his Telegram channel, he emphasized: there is no talk of dismissal. The contract ended and it was simply not renewed. According to the fighter, there are reasons, but he does not want to reveal them.
— The information is reliable, but there is one blemish. Nobody fired us, our contract just ended, and for certain reasons it was not renewed. There are small nuances that I cannot tell. To do this, you need to record a whole podcast to tell all the details. “Nothing terrible happened,” Fakhretdinov said.
The fighter emphasized that he is not going to make a tragedy out of the UFC’s decision. Rinat will definitely not be left without work, because he already has offers from other organizations, moreover, more profitable financially.
“We would drink a lot of people’s blood”
The most revealing part of Fakhretdinov’s comment is emotional, but very accurate. He is confident that his team looked decent in the UFC and could achieve much more in the league.
“We’re not worried at all, we fought with dignity.” [в UFC]. Believe me, we haven’t said everything there yet, of course. We would drink a lot of people’s blood. But, apparently, this also bothered someone,” Fakhretdinov said in the published video.
The phrase “we would drink a lot of people’s blood” sounds almost like an answer to the main unspoken question. Undefeated in the UFC, the awkward, physically powerful welterweight is not the most desirable opponent for big names and former champions. Perhaps this was the reason for the behind-the-scenes games, which led to an illogical and inexplicable decision from a sporting point of view.
Fakhretdinov is 34 years old – the age at which many fighters reach their peak. He is healthy, active and on a winning streak. His story in the UFC ended unexpectedly, but it certainly doesn’t look like a dead end. Quite the contrary: this is a rare case when a fighter who was never defeated leaves the strongest league in the world. This means that this story will definitely have a continuation – just outside the UFC octagon.
Source: Sportbox
