By Cassandra Cousineau of LVSportsBiz.com
Maryna Moroz had a lot on her mind at T-Mobile Arena tonight.
Draped in a Ukrainian flag, the UFC flyweight walked into the octagon for the first time since 2020. Moroz dominated, and then submitted Kazakh fighter and rival Mariya Agapova at UFC 272 Saturday. It was the Las Vegas-based promotion’s first major event held in Las Vegas inside T-Mobile Arena in 2022. When it was over, Moroze let out a scream of great relief, ricocheted across the octagon, and embraced the flag of her home country once again. It’s the closest to feeling like home she’ll come for the foreseeable future.
There was a lot of bad blood advertised in this event. Headliners Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington are former roommates and trained together at American Top Team in Florida. That gym featured four current and two former fighters on Saturday night’s card.
Most of the theatrics have surrounded those two following their fallout that ended with Covington leaving American Top Team due to an alleged unfulfilled payment to Masvidal’s coach.
Covington especially has never let facts get in the way of a good narrative. He compared “Gamebred” with Fidel Castro, who was a Cuban revolutionary and leader of the Caribbean nation between 1959 and 2008.
At their chaotic pre-fight press conference the two traded a barrage of NSFW and personal insults. The stage was staggered with Las Vegas Metro Police Department officers and UFC security to keep the 37-year-old Masvidal and 34-year-old Covington from destroying the place before their PPV event.
LVSportsBiz.com asked UFC President Dana White how much of the outrageous acrimony was real between the two. “If anybody doesn’t think that one of these two might do something today, you’re out of your f*cking mind,” White stated. “That’s why we have everybody up here. “This is real.”
“I never ask for handouts, I’m not like Jorge Masvidal,” said Covington, donned in a pristine, Miami style, white suit. “That guy is the definition of handouts. He used to use an Obama Phone. He used food stamps from the government. He’s Fidel Castro junior. The guy is the definition of communism and here he is trying to act like he’s a right-winger now. It’s just funny, the hypocrisy.”
Masvidal was born and raised in Miami, his father is of Cuban descent and fled the country in a self-made raft at a young age. “Due to Fidel Castro, family members of mine died,” Masvidal said. “My aunt is actually missing a breast because she tried to cross over from Cuba to Guantanamo Bay and the whole area is rigged with landmines. She’s now missing a tit because as she was crossing over, a land mine exploded.
“So for him to say that is clearly trying to get an emotion out of me and to get in the newspapers. The one person I dislike more than Colby Covington is no longer alive and it’s Fidel Castro.”
Covington won in a five-round wrestling shut out.
The bombastic welterweights stood in stark contrast to the farmer’s daughter featured in the prelims of UFC 272. Separated by 6,000 miles and daily war carnage, Moroz did her best to keep it together. She teamed up with UNICEF to sell “Stand with Ukraine” merchandise to benefit children impacted by the war.
Moroz also gained worldwide attention for this message for Russia’s Vladimir Putin: “F*ck you, bitch.”
While the theatrics of headliners Covington and Masvidal have dominated most of the promotion, the journey of Moroz is actually about life and death. She was born in Vilnohirsk, Ukraine, in September 1991, almost exactly the time Ukraine gained its independence as the Soviet Union dissolved. “I will be fighting and I show that Ukraine people are strong, and my flag will be in the Octagon.”
Fight week for a major UFC card is always a bit dense for featured athletes making it difficult for teams to hold focus through media events and final weight cuts. Throw in a war declared on her home country by nuclear super power, Russia, Moroz, has understandably been beyond challenged to be mentally and emotionally stable for this fight.
Her voice cracked as she spoke with tears flowing down her reddened face for most of her post-fight press conference.
“Many of my friends died right now. The Russian army are killing them. I feel terrible,” Moroz shared with media after her win. “It’s very hard for me. My family is in the Ukraine. My mother, father, sister, they’re all there. I still hear my mother telling me, ‘You have a fight. You need to be strong.’ But I worry so much. I am always thinking about my family and thinking about Ukraine, all the time.” She also added that her father was making homemade grenades in an attempt to defend the family.
Moroz (10-3) had her hands full with Agapova (10-2) , also a former ATT teammate. She levied multiple serious accusations against her opponent, including drug abuse and threatening former teammates. After her second-round win, her mind was still saturated with events permeating the world’s headlines.
“I worried, I cried, I don’t want the Russian army to come and kill my family.” As for what’s next for the 30-year-old, she won’t be able to return to Ukraine any time soon. Her fight ended close to 4am Ukrainian time, when her family would be rising to tend what is still manageable on their farm. She intended on calling her mother to share much needed good news.
“I want to hug my cats, travel a little bit. I’ll rest, and go back in gym. I will start to train and think about next fight. Outweighing any fight for Moroz is the Russian invasion of her home. She hopes that her victory in Las Vegas will inspire those watching to support the people of Ukraine.
In other UFC news, the promotion said:
UFC announced that former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov will be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame’s ‘Modern Wing’ as a member of the class of 2022. The 2022 UFC Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, presented by Toyo Tires®, will take place during the 10th Annual UFC International Fight WeekÔ this summer in Las Vegas and will be streamed live on UFC FIGHT PASS®.
“Khabib is one of the greatest athletes to ever compete in professional sports,” UFC President Dana White said. “No one dominated their opponents that way Khabib did, and to retire undefeated, as lightweight champion and the #1 pound-for-pound athlete in the world is an incredible accomplishment. It will be an honor to induct him into the UFC Hall of Fame this summer.”
Nurmagomedov will enter the UFC Hall of Fame as a member of the Modern Wing, joining Forrest Griffin (2013), BJ Penn (2015), Urijah Faber (2017), Ronda Rousey (2018), Michael Bisping (2019), Rashad Evans (2019) and Georges St-Pierre (2020) in this distinguished category. The “Modern Era” category includes athletes who turned pro on or after November 17, 2000 (when the first UFC event under the unified rules of MMA was held), are a minimum age of 35 or who have been retired for one year or more.
A veteran of 29 fights during his 12-year career, Nurmagomedov compiled a perfect record of 29-0 (13-0, UFC), securing notable victories over former UFC lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos, former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor, former interim UFC lightweight champion Dustin Poirier and former interim UFC lightweight champion Justin Gaethje.
PSA