Bellator Signs Russian Female Cage Fighter Who Knocked Out 529-Pound Male Opponent
“WTF even going on in Russia?”
Despite holding only a budding 3-1 professional record, MMA fans may already be familiar with Bellator’s newest female flyweight cage fighter.
Darina Mazdyuk made a bout by obscure Russian MMA promotion “Our Business” go viral when the 139-pounder knocked out her 529-pound male opponent Grigory Chistyakov in a sensational intergender exhibition.
MMA Fighting reports that the fight lasted just 90 seconds, with Mazdyuk winning by TKO after pummeling a fallen and exhausted Chistyakov into the mat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKn8rzB8APU
Barstool Sports first broke the news of Mazdyuk’s signing, and MMA Fighting confirmed it with Bellator insiders.
BREAKING: @BellatorMMA has signed Darina Madzyuk (3-1) to an exclusive contract. She will compete at flyweight and went viral earlier this month for KOing this 529lb man in Russia….https://t.co/MCy5Tsz7od
— Robbie Fox (@RobbieBarstool) December 15, 2020
Veteran UFC commentator Marc Goddard condemned the freak show fight on Twitter, writing, “To outsiders & detractors this is MMA. Shameful. Sickening. Abysmal.”
This is what we are dealing with – in 2020. This is what we are fighting against as the parallels & negative connotations are continually drawn. To outsiders & detractors this is MMA. Shameful. Sickening. Abysmal. 😔 https://t.co/lWDyXy7R0z
— Marc Goddard (@marcgoddard_uk) November 28, 2020
UFC fighter Ben Askren also had an incredulous reaction, tweeting “WTF even going on in Russia.”
WTF is even going on in Russia https://t.co/JXQ1B71m0u
— Funky (@Benaskren) November 28, 2020
Mazdyuk may be taking some heat online as well. The “Red Queen” recently set her Instagram page to private, despite having over 35,000 followers.
Bellators newest signing Darina Mazdyuk 🇷🇺 😍🔥 pic.twitter.com/TMB6UA96KP
— Krishy78 🇱🇰 (@Krishy781) December 16, 2020
Time will tell how Mazdyuk fares in Bellator’s stacked woman’s flyweight decision, which is currently headed by 11-0 champion Juliana Velasquez and includes serious contenders like the 7-0 Mandy Bohm, who defeated former UFC vet Liz Carmouche in March.
But given Mazdyuk’s sensational knockout of her roly-poly opponent, we’d say she can definitely lay claim to some kind of “pound-for-pound” ranking–based on her victim’s impressive corpulence alone.