In the very near future, many Russian UFC fighters risk losing the opportunity to fight in tournaments in the United States. According to the representative of the Absolute Fighting Championship, Hunter Campbell, starting from November 8, foreign athletes who are not vaccinated with WHO-approved vaccines will not be allowed to compete in American promotion shows. This is stated in an official letter, the text of which was published by MMA Junkie.

“Foreign air passengers traveling to the United States will need to be fully vaccinated and provide proof of vaccination status to arrive in the country.

In addition, those fully vaccinated will have to present a negative test for COVID-19 before departure, taken no later than three days before boarding.

This policy also applies to foreign nationals crossing land borders with Canada and Mexico or arriving in the United States by ferry, ”the statement said.

Campbell assured that this initiative does not come from the UFC, but exclusively from the US government.

At the same time, he noted that this could call into question the prospects of a number of foreign fighters who were going to fight at the promotion tournaments in November.

“To be clear: this is not UFC policy. The UFC does not require you to be vaccinated. We're just announcing the new rules recently announced by the US government ... This regulation takes effect on November 8, leaving very little time to take action if you're competing at one of the UFC events in November, ”added Campbell.

Three shows are planned for the next month under the auspices of the Absolute Fighting Championship. Moreover, the first of them will take place even before the entry into force of the new laws. UFC 268 will take place in New York on November 6, and will be crowned with two title fights. Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman will face Colby Covington in a long-awaited rematch, while minimal belt holder Rose Namayunas will face Weili Zhang. Also within the framework of the event, the last opponent in the career of Khabib Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje, will meet with former title challenger Michael Chandler. At the same time, domestic athletes are not among the declared ones.

As for the two tournaments of the UFC Vegas series, two Russians appear among their participants at once. On November 13, Liana Jojua should hold her next fight in the largest MMA promotion on the planet, and Azamat Murzakanov's debut fight is scheduled for November 20. The undefeated light heavyweight won the Dana White 'Contender Series and was awarded a championship contract. However, now their prospects seem dim.

According to Campbell, access to the United States is allowed only with a certificate of vaccination with one of seven drugs approved by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Currently these include mRNA1273 (Moderna), BNT162b2 (Pfizer / BioNTech), Ad26.COV2.S (Janssen), AZD1222 (Oxford / AstraZeneca), Covishield (Serum Institute of India), BBIBP-CorV (Sinopharm) and CoronaVac (Sinovac).

At the same time, the list does not include "Sputnik V", which is actively used on the territory of Russia.

Thus, domestic fighters vaccinated with Sputnik V risk not taking part in tournaments in the United States, starting in November.

At the moment, it is talking exclusively about the UFC, but it must be understood that this limitation will certainly affect representatives of other American MMA promotions, as well as athletes from other types.

UFC President Dana White expressed his position on the restrictions.

At the end of the next tournament within the framework of the Dana White's Contender Series, he admitted that he did not expect such a development of events, and also shared his opinion on possible ways out of the situation.

“I said I had no idea how this whole madness would unfold.

I just do not know.

I believe that "Boytsovsky Island" will be used again.

We really want to have more activities there.

Next Wednesday I am going to Abu Dhabi, where I have a lot of meetings scheduled.

I was looking forward to the opportunity to tell you what we have new in Abu Dhabi, and on this trip I will organize everything and bring it to completion, "White quotes MMAJunkie.

Based on the words of the UFC president, we can conclude that tournaments in the United Arab Emirates may become the only haven for athletes from Russia, as well as other fighters who have not been vaccinated with one of the seven WHO-approved drugs. However, the question is whether the promotion will manage to organize enough shows in Abu Dhabi to provide competitive practice for everyone.

At the moment, there are 25 Russians on the UFC roster, while 12 of them are among the strongest representatives of their divisions. In order to move up the rankings, they need to fight the top and perform at the largest venues. And for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Las Vegas and New York remain so. It is in the arena of T-Mobile and Madison Square Garden that the organization's largest shows are held. And taking into account the new rules, domestic athletes may lose the opportunity to express themselves there.

Of course, during the pandemic, shows on Fight Island became an important part of the UFC. Since May 2020, 12 tournaments have taken place in Abu Dhabi. Moreover, three of them were numbered at once, therefore, were led by extra-class fights. So, in the UAE, there were fights between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje, revenge between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier, as well as the battle of Kamaru Usman with Jorge Masvidal. And already on October 30, the promotion will return to the Etihad arena with UFC 267, the program of which will be closed with two title battles at once. Peter Jan will compete with Corey Sandhagen for an interim bantamweight belt, and Jan Blachovich will compete with Glover Teixera for the light heavyweight belt.

But it should be noted that recently the UFC has used Fight Island much less often, and there are reasons for that.

The main one is that the main audience of the promotion is still Americans, and because of the time difference, watching a show in the UAE is not entirely comfortable for them.

In turn, this can seriously affect ratings and pay-per-view (PPV) sales.

The 257th and 251st tournaments were held in Abu Dhabi, but at the same time they surpassed the bar of 1 million realized PPVs and entered the top 7 leaders in this indicator in the history of the UFC.

But here it is necessary to make a reservation.

In the first case, McGregor attracted a colossal audience, and in the second - the long-awaited confrontation between Usman and Masvidal.

At the same time, only 675 thousand people bought the broadcast of the battle between Nurmagomedov and Gatzhi - a very unsatisfactory result.

And so far there is no reason to assume that the leadership of the promotion will decide to risk ratings and sales of paid broadcasts for the sake of fighters not vaccinated with WHO-approved vaccines.

Undoubtedly, a certain number of shows may be held in Abu Dhabi, but it is unlikely that all major events will be organized there.

As a result, there may be a problem with the selection of rivals, because some athletes will not have the opportunity to compete in the United States, while others will not have the desire to fly to the UAE.

Recall that the creators of the Sputnik V vaccine expect to receive WHO approval by the end of 2021.

Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), told reporters about this in mid-October.