Fans call on Chechen MMA fighter to leave ring after his rival's death

Today, Uzbek athlete Bekzod Nurmatov who died after a fight in Grozny will be buried in his homeland. Users of social networks expressed their hope for the completion of the sports career of his rival Beslan Isaev, a fighter of mixed martial arts (MMA), and also demanded to ban the sport.

The MMA fighter from Uzbekistan fell into a coma after a fight with Russian MMA fighter Beslan Isaev at the Absolute Championship Akhmat (ACA) 100 tournament. On October 7, Bekzod Nurmatov died of a blood stroke. The fight, which took place in the capital of Chechnya, lasted all three rounds and ended with the victory of Beslan Isaev by decision of judges.

Relatives of deceased Bekzod Nurmatov have reported that the athlete's body will be delivered to his homeland on October 8 and the funeral is scheduled on the same day, the TASS reports today.

Users of the Vkontakte social network called on Chechen MMA fighter Beslan Isaev to end his sports career after the incident. "I hope Beslan will no longer take part in fights. Many people probably don't know what kind of person Beslan is: he has a heart of gold, and it will be so hard for him," user Bekmen Chee wrote in the group "Best of MMA".

Users of social networks also demanded to ban mixed martial arts as a sport, especially for Muslims. "It is better to ban MMA, first of all, it is haram (forbidden)," Rizvan Kakoev wrote in the same group on the VKontakte social network.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 8, 2019 at 01:58 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.