Fans of mixed martial arts from Russia are looking forward to the night of June 4-5, when Alexander Volkov will clash with Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC Fight Night. But not only Drago will defend the honor of Russian MMA in the octagon. In the same tournament, we will see the undefeated Movsar Evloev and the debutant of the organization Rinat Fakhretdinov.

A promising Russian, not very well known to the general public until recently, tightly knocked out a UFC veteran, for which he received praise from Khabib Nurmagomedov and a contract from Dana White, and Oleg Taktarov decided to become a fighter’s second.

Will Fakhretdinov’s skullcap replace Nurmagomedov’s hat?

“Welcome to the UFC”

UFC debutant Rinat Fakhretdinov can hardly be called a novice in mixed martial arts. The 30-year-old fighter has 23 fights and 21 victories at the professional level. Despite solid statistics, the fighter appeared at tournaments of not the most famous organizations. He won brightly, but for the most part not very eminent rivals.

Perhaps Rinat Fakhretdinov, nicknamed the Gladiator, could continue to collect victories at the Razdolie Cup or Fight Star – Saransk vs. Penza, but he was lucky enough to be on the fighting island in the UAE. Moreover, at the very moment when the head of the UFC, Dana White, was looking for new talent for his organization while watching the UAE Warriors 15 tournament.

Dana White / Photo: © Chris Graythen / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Of course, it is stupid to talk about the accident of what happened – in principle, there could not be mediocre fighters without a good record. But still in the octagon it was necessary to show themselves brightly. Rinat coped with this task. Having received UFC veteran Eric Spicely as a rival, Fakhretdinov knocked out his opponent in the 55th second of the first round.

– I’m hungry, I’m very hungry, – Gladiator said after the end of the duel to White.

The boss of the Absolute Fighting Championship laughed, looked into the statistics of Rinat’s fights, realized that he had just knocked out a UFC veteran and realized that such a frame suits his organization quite well. White was so impressed that he could not believe his eyes. Entering the locker room to the Russian, he said the phrase that many MMA fighters dream of:

– Welcome to the UFC.

“Can’t fight Muslims”

Fakhretdinov’s path to the first fight in the UFC was long and winding. Having exchanged the third dozen, Rinat went from Saransk to Moscow. But the main goal was not professional growth in sports, but the urgent need for earnings. Doing combat sambo in his free time in one of the capital’s halls, he got to the title of champion of the capital and became the vice-champion of Russia. Of course, this did not bring fabulous income – Gladiator continued to combine the work of a legal assistant with coaching. By the way, he did not quit the last one, even having noticeable successes in MMA.

– And he led group classes, and trained, but you need to live on something. Unfortunately, I don’t have sponsors, so I do everything myself, ”Rinat told the Championship.

A winning streak in mixed martial arts, it would seem, could help the fighter solve financial problems, but due to personal convictions, Fakhretdinov had to restrain himself in MMA. The fighter was forced to give up the Gorilla Fighting Championship title for a not-so-trivial reason.

“According to my beliefs, I cannot fight Muslims. I did everything in GFC, everything I wanted to. It was a good springboard for me. I decided to leave the belt, – Sport24 quoted the fighter.

By refusing to fight Muslim contenders in the GFC, Fakhretdinov has limited his options in a number of other organizations as well. In the conditional ACA, of course, there are Brazilians, Russians, Belarusians, but it is still extremely difficult for a successful fighter to avoid fights with brothers in faith. However, Fakhretdinov found something to fill with a temporary downtime in his fighting career – he signed a trial contract with the Strela rugby team from Kazan.

First Tatar in UFC

Gladiator did not become a rugby star – he had enough unfinished business in mixed martial arts. The conversation with Dana White turned out to be fateful for Rinat in many ways. Now the fighter is preparing to break into the UFC, and he intends to stay in this organization. The fight with the Greek Andreas Mikhailidis, who was defeated at the tournament in Moscow by Vladimir Mineev, can be the starting point for a new stage.

The first Tatar in the UFC intends to introduce mixed martial arts fans to another national headdress from Russia. What is a hat, many already know thanks to Khabib Nurmagomedov, now there is an opportunity to learn about the skullcap. We have already managed to go through the difficult procedure of coordination with the UFC – the organization was convinced that this is really an element of national clothes, it has nothing to do with any promotions.

Rinat Fakhretdinov / Photo: © Personal archive of Rinat Fakhretdinov

The skullcap on the head of a fighter is not the only feature that can add points to him in the fight for media. Actor and ex-UFC champion Oleg Taktarov will be second in the corner of Rinat. Of course, the Russian Bear will not seize the initiative from the coaches, but, perhaps, he will find the right word to set our compatriot to victory.