Before the story with the non-admission of our tennis players to Wimbledon had died down, British politicians turned to other sports.

As a result of anti-Russian actions, two mixed martial arts fighters from Russia, who simply could not get to the tournament due to bureaucratic delays, lost their chances to compete for the titles of the prestigious promotion. But there they could win championship belts.

They were happily replaced with American fighters!

Beat all rivals on the way to the titles

The PFL organization is not as popular in Russia as the UFC or Bellator, but many Russian fighters compete in this league. In many respects, the promotion is among the top three in the world. The PFL became famous for its original tournament structure, somewhat reminiscent of the NHL and NBA championships. First, the regular season is held among the fighters, and then the top four participate in the playoffs, in which the champion in each weight category is determined.

Most tournaments of this organization are held in the United States, and our athletes perform calmly there, despite the political situation. So, a week ago, Russian fighter Omari Akhmedov had his duel in the playoffs, defeating local opponent Joshua Silveira.

Russian heavyweight Denis Goltsov / Photo: © Tech-KREP press service

The next PFL tournament will take place on August 13th. Initially, two fighters from Russia got the right to take part in it. Heavyweight was supposed to be Denis Goltsov (29-7), who won both fights this year. In the semi-finals, he had to enter the octagon against the Brazilian fighter Matheus Sheffil.

In welterweight, the undefeated Magomed Umalatov (13-0), who also performed flawlessly in the current regular season, got his chance. Canadian Rory McDonald was supposed to confront the Russian at the semifinal stage.

“We are happy that we have such a deep roster”

Both fighters had excellent chances to compete for titles in their respective weight categories. But an unexpected obstacle was the venue for the semi-finals.

Occasionally, the PFL holds tournaments outside of the United States to promote the league. For the next event, the organizers have chosen the capital of Wales, which is part of the UK. Athletes from our country were supposed to fly to Cardiff in the near future, for this they needed to obtain a British visa.

But local officials, as you know, have recently been doing everything to make life as difficult as possible for Russian athletes. The high-profile story of the removal of tennis players from Wimbledon is still widely discussed in the press. But there the British were the organizers, and they themselves decided whether or not to let our athletes in. Here, the British managed to annoy in a different way, simply not issuing visas to the fighters from Russia to visit the country, forcing the PFL leadership to take extreme measures.

Magomed Umalatov / Photo: © Cooper Neill / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

In the promotion, they did not fight for the Russians who got into a difficult situation, who performed brilliantly in the octagon this year. The leaders of the league did not come up with anything better than simply getting rid of problematic athletes, replacing them with two Americans.

“We feel very sorry for these two fighters who fought and earned their place in the playoffs. Both Umalatov and Goltsov had impressive regular season performances and were championship contenders. But we are delighted to have such a deep roster and look forward to seeing how Dilano Taylor and Juan Adams take their chance,” PFL Vice President Ray Sefo said in a statement.

While we are talking only about exclusion from the current tournament. But if our fighters regularly have similar problems with documents, then even brilliant victories will not keep the PFL leadership from dismissing the Russians. And promotion – from the fall in the quality of fights. However, after such a trick from the British, PFL tournaments can leave Foggy Albion for a long time.