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Askar Mozharov has seemingly bid farewell to the sport of MMA after his unceremonious release from the UFC following a fraudulent record controversy.
Mozharov uploaded a statement to Instagram Stories claiming to be 'done with MMA.' While the Ukranian's Instagram account is private, his statement was first reported by Georgian MMA journalist Giorgi Kokiashvili. The statement read:
"Askar Mozharov announced on Instagram that he left MMA - Many people ask what I have with the UFC - I have moved away from MMA and decided to stop cooperation, on my initiative! I'm not surprised by what media writes there! I'm done with MMA! There are other plans, thank you all!" translated via iHeartGeorgius1 on Twitter
Check out the tweet below:
Askar Mozharov made his promotional debut against Alonzo Menifield on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night: Volkov vs. Rozenstruik. 'Black Jaguar' was smack dab in the middle of a controversy leading up to his debut as he reportedly tried to falsify his record.
After research by Sherdog Fighter Finder, his record fell from 25-7 to 21-12 leading up to his debut. 'Black Jaguar' suffered a first-round TKO loss against Menifield, following which he was recently removed from the UFC.
Askar Mozharov's replies to accusations of record falsification
Sherdog associate editor Jay Pettry, who assists with his site’s Fight Finder, detailed multiple attempts by Mozharov's team to alter his record. The Ukrainian national has even supposedly changed his name from Artur Shadkov to Askar Mozharov to hide his losses.
Mozharov responded to the accusations leading up to his UFC debut against Alonzo Menifield. 'Black Jaguar' pointed to his multiple bouts in China during his early career which had seemingly not been recorded.
According to Mozharov, the issue had always existed but only attracted attention ahead of his debut in the biggest MMA promotion in the world. The 27-year told reporters during the pre-fight conference of his UFC debut:
"I spent so much time since the age of 18 fighting professional fights and pretty much fighting everyone that I could. I don’t build my record or whatever, but a lot of the fights I had were in China. Those organizations don’t add fights after, so you have to really pursue it to make sure that they add the fights that you had and make sure that you have it on record. This is actually a situation that, in the last seven, eight years, no one mentioned anything. No one said anything. Now that I get up to the biggest promotion, to the UFC, I guess someone or one of the admins wanted to show themself."
Watch Mozharov's appearance at the pre-fight presser below:
