The number of Azerbaijani fighters competing in the world’s leading MMA promotion, the UFC, could soon rise to five.
As reported by İdman.Biz, one local Instagram account specialising in UFC news claimed that Azerbaijani fighter Tahir Abdullayev (21-3) has officially signed a contract with the UFC and will make his debut at the UFC event in Baku on 27 June, set to take place at the National Gymnastics Arena.
However, there has so far been no confirmation of this information on the official UFC platforms.
In addition, the operating company Baku City Circuit (BCC), which is involved in organising UFC events in Azerbaijan, also did not confirm the reports in a conversation with İdman.Biz. Representatives stated that the Baku card would feature fighters whose participation had already been publicly announced.
Meanwhile, one source told İdman.Biz that Tahir Abdullayev most likely signed a contract with a company that works with fighters, and some people may have misunderstood the information.
It should also be noted that the fighter himself has repeatedly appealed to the UFC on social media, asking for a contract, while also hinting that his next stop would be the UFC event in Baku on 27 June. However, Abdullayev has not published any post officially confirming a UFC deal.
Nicknamed “Tank”, Tahir Abdullayev is the UAE Warriors welterweight champion and has previously competed in the Russian promotion AMC Fight Nights.
Last year, he also attracted attention with a viral social media post in which he called for a fight against Armenian fighter Armen Torosyan, writing: “Give me Torosyan, I’ll make dolma out of him.”
It is worth recalling that three Azerbaijani fighters have already been officially confirmed for the UFC Baku event on 27 June — Rafael Fiziev, Nazim Sadykhov and Farman Hasanov. Another Azerbaijani UFC fighter, Tofiq Musayev, is currently recovering from a broken hand suffered in his victory over Ignacio Bahamondes.
