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UFC drops one Russian fighter, picks up another
By Richard Crenwelge, RCM MMA Correspondent
Las Vegas, NV(September 24,2013)– In the wake of the Mayweather v Canelo match, the UFC released two fighters and picked up a new female contestant. This also came during the build-up to UFC 165, which was wrought with controversy, so these releases and acquisitions have gone largely unnoticed. After the UFC swallowed its major competitors some years ago, the level of competition in the organization has reached a point where fighters’ job security is hanging more and more in the balance.
The first of these releases was Mizuto Hirota (14-7 MMA), a Japanese Shooto fighter whose most famous moment, unfortunately, is having his arm badly broken by Shinya Aoki in Dynamite 2009: DREAM vs Sengoku. This is perhaps one of the most viscerally discomforting moments in modern MMA, akin to Gary Goodridge’s brutal knockout of Paul Herrera in a much earlier era of the sport, at UFC 8. Also released was Russian flyweight Azamat “Tough Guy” Gashimov (7-3 MMA). Despite being from the wrestling-heavy Republic of Dagestan, and carrying the title of International Master of Sport in Sambo, Gashimov could not make those skills work well in the UFC. His most recent loss was to John Lineker at UFC on FX 8, via TKO.
The UFC picked up another Russian, however, by acquiring female bantamweight Alexandra Albu. Albu is undefeated at 5-0 MMA, and is an all-around fantastic athlete. Much in the tradition of the old Soviet sport machine, Albu has become a top-tier athlete in a number of sporting endeavors, including Crossfit, bodybuilding, and powerlifting (winner of the Moscow Cup). She is also a black belt in karate, and an accomplished judoka. Now that women’s MMA is being given a better opportunity to fully develop, it is very exciting to see female athletes of this caliber enter the fray.
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