UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov isn’t happy about the promotion of the upcoming card in Russia.
Khabib Nurmagomedov has criticised the UFC for the promotion of their upcoming card in St. Petersburg, Russia which takes place this weekend.
The UFC made their long-awaited debut in Russia last year, with Mark Hunt fighting Alexey Oleinik in the main event. This weekend Alistair Overeem will take on Oleinik to headline the card, but speaking in a recent fan Q&A at an M-1 Apepha event, Khabib was vocal about the lack of promotion for the event.
“It seems to me that after the event in Moscow there were all the same people, all the same media that were,” Nurmagomedov said (transcript via BJPenn.com). “UFC fans are watching, but I know that most people don’t even know that they are doing UFC in Russia. 20 April, Magomed Mustafaev will fight with a new guy (Rafael Fiziev), no one even knows about this fight. Or [Alexei] Oleinik vs. [Alistair] Overeem. Why not show or promote it?”
Nurmagomedov also spoke about the promotion for the UFC’s first event in Russia. Highlighting names such as Mairbek Taisumov and Nikita Krylov who fought on the card, Khabib was disappointed they didn’t participate in any media for the event.
“On the first event [Mairbek] Taisumov, [Rustam] Khabilov, Omari Ahkmedov fought. Taisumov has five victories in a row. Khabilov has several wins. But they didn’t even participate in any media events or promotion. [Nikita] Krylov participated, who returned after being fired. Petr Yan participated who was conducting the second fight in the UFC. I think the UFC should have a different policy. UFC needs to pay attention to our fighters.”