Fight branded ‘unethical’ by Russian Dwarf Athletic Association set to take place within days

A fight that has been dubbed ‘unethical’ and ‘wrong’ by the Russian Dwarf Athletic Association is reportedly set to take place within the next few days.

18-year-old Hasbulla Magomedov is from Makhachkala, Russia and has shot to viral fame after posting videos of himself on Instagram and TikTok and is popular within the MMA community. After he re-created a weigh-in of retired UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, he earned the nickname ‘Mini Khabib’. He has more than 1.5 million followers on Instagram alone.

He has Growth Hormone Deficiency which prevents the brain’s pituitary gland from producing hormones, resulting in him having a childlike appearance and a high voice. Although it has not been confirmed, it is believed to be a form of dwarfism.

His fame arguably grew even larger when he teased a fight earlier with 17-year-old Abdu Rozik, a singer from Tajikistan, who has a similar condition to Hasbulla.

At the time this seemed to be just a hypothetical clash but 19-year-old Asxab Tamaev, who is from Grozny, Chechnya, is now promoting the fight as happening within the next ‘3-4 days’ in an Instagram post shared on Monday.

It has not been specified exactly when this fight will take place or where or what kind of contest it will be. However, despite interest from MMA fans, there has been a strong backlash to the fight in Russia.

Uliana Podpalnaya, head of the Russian Dwarf Athletic Association and daughter of Olympic gold medal powerlifter Tamara Podpalnaya, has called the fight “unethical and wrong” as there is “nothing serious about this.”

Speaking to Gazeta.Ru she added: “It’s not even like a show fight – they get paid a lot of money and it’s a show to make people laugh. It seems to be that only on the one hand it can be correct and beautiful – if martial arts among small people are made a Paralympic sport. It could be Judo, Karate, and people will understand that this is a serious sport, serious performances, and not some kind of laughing show.

“Events like this don’t draw attention to the sport of little people. If interest in this appears, it’s only business a lot of money is being invested in it. And from the point of view of the sports career growth of these guys, there are no prospects.”

It remains to be seen if this fight will actually happen but it is just another example of social media stars trying their hand at combat sports. The likes of Logan Paul and his brother Jake have both recently had high profile boxing matches against the likes of Floyd Mayweather and Ben Askren.

Incidentally, Hasbulla has reportedly named Logan Paul as one of his dream opponents as well as Conor McGregor and Henry Cejudo.