50-man brawl breaks out at MMA event in Moscow

Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

A 50-man brawl broke out at an MMA event in Moscow, Russia, after a fighter attacked a potential opponent during a pre-fight staredown.

The incident took place during a World Ertaymash Federation (WEF) event at the Ivan Yarygin Sports Palace in Moscow this past weekend, where representatives from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan competed against each other to earn their place in the league.

During the event, Uzbek fighter Namazan Samiev earned a decisive victory against his Kyrgyz opponent, and announced during his post-fight speech that he was prepared to fight another competitor from those present straight away. A challenger emerged from the spectators surrounding the cage and WEF promoters suggested that the two fighters take part in a pre-fight staredown to promote the bout.

However, during the staredown, Samiev unexpectedly attacked his opponent, landing a vicious knee to the head, which sparked the massive brawl that drew more than 50 people into the cage.

According to journalist Alexander Lyutikov, one of the spectators attempted to ease tensions and reconcile the spectators by shouting, “Uzbeks! Kyrgyz! We are brothers! Why are you doing that? This is a sport, it happens!”

https://twitter.com/moslenta/status/1469954811265261569?s=20

The skirmish lasted for several minutes before police officers were able to separate the assailants.

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About the author

Karim Zidan

Karim Zidan is a investigative reporter and feature writer focusing on the intersection of sports and politics. He has written for BloodyElbow since 2014 and has served as an associate editor since 2016. He also writes for The New York Times and The Guardian. Karim has been invited to speak about his work at numerous universities, including Princeton, and was a panelist at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival and the Oslo Freedom Forum. He also participated in the United Nations counter-terrorism conference in 2021. His reporting on Ramzan Kadyrov’s involvement in MMA, much of which was done for Bloody Elbow, has led to numerous award nominations, and was the basis of an award-winning HBO Real Sports documentary.