Patricio Freire was frustrated he didn’t get his shot at the Bellator featherweight title yet, but he’s not the only tournament winner that can’t fight for the gold.
Magomedrasul Khasbulaev, affectionately known as ‘Frodo’, earned the right to fight for the championship after winning the eighth season of the featherweight tournament with wins over Mike Richman, Marlon Sandro and Fabricio Guerreiro in 2013, but he was grounded in Russia with visa issues and never returned to the United States.
“I have spent almost a year already (in this) battle,” Khasbulaev told MMAFighting.com. “I don’t know when I can speak (about it). Until the visa is given, I can’t participate in this organization.”
“Frodo” says he doesn’t know the reason why he can’t get a visa to enter the United States and compete inside the Bellator cage.
“I don’t know what the case is,” he said. “They don’t tell me the reason, but I think that this is what the error is.”
Khasbulaev is confident that he will be able to fight for the Bellator title in the future, and he says the promotion is doing what they can to help him.
“(Bellator) helped me and I was (expected) to come back faster, but still I (had the visa) denied,” “Frodo” said. “Much has really changed but I still keep myself in shape and ready at any time to return to the cage and fight for the title so I don’t lose momentum.”
While Khasbulaev isn’t cleared to enter the country, two-time tournament winner Patricio “Pitbull” Freire prepares to challenge Pat Curran for the Bellator featherweight championship in 2014.