In combat sports, bad blood is bound to boil, no matter what size you are.
Bad Blood
From atomweights to heavyweights, there is no shortage of rivalries throughout MMA history. You have classics like Conor McGregor & Nate Diaz or Jon Jones & Daniel Cormier. In today’s age, we now have another rivalry: Hasbulla and Abdu Rozik.
Both of the Russians stand at around 3-feet tall, but their height on social media would be unmatched. The two went viral after MMA fighter Asxab Tamaev faced off the little people in a UFC-like faceoff. They went back-and-forth at each other, attempting strikes and talking trash. The scene would be similar to the famous face-off between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229.
While the promotion succeeded, Hasbulla and Abdu Rozik never ended up fighting. Instead of throwing kicks, they captured a ton of clicks. They are vastly popular now, especially within the MMA community, due to their acted-out rivalry… or was it?
Is It Scripted Or Not?
Khabib’s coach, Javier Mendez believed the beef between the two was always fake, however he thinks much differently nowadays. He would open up about it on his own show, ‘The Javier Mendez Podcast.’
“So I’m with Rizwan, I’m with Khabib today and I said, ‘Hey, what’s the deal with those guys? It’s a joke, right?’ And Rizwan says, ‘No coach, they hate each other.’ I go, ‘What?! They hate each other?’ He goes, ‘Yes. They really hate each other.’”
The yin-yang duo of Hasbulla and Abdu would show up to UFC 267 last weekend in Abu Dhabi. Things got “ugly” between the little people as they charged at each other following the co-main event. Hasbulla would throw a teep kick at Rozik before the two got separated.
“I just looked at Instagram right now, where Nogueira, he put a post up with these two guys going at it and it did look real. I thought it was all playing. I thought they were making it up. But no. And Khabib would never lie to me. He goes, ‘Those guys don’t like each other.’ Now will they ever fight? I don’t know. But the hate is real.”
Do you think Hasbulla and Abu Rozik actually hate each other?
