An Israeli promotion had quite the scene this past week. In the main event of the IWCC, there were controversial remarks made, invoking WWII imagery.
Illyas Sadykov hails out of Kazakhstan. He opted to send his Israeli opponent anti-semitic insults complete with a meme of Germany’s leader in WWII. He accompanied the picture with an ominous warning that he’ll burn his opponent in a similar fashion. Needless to say this was more than a little tasteless.
One thing worth noticing is that he had the good sense to at least make it a disappearing picture. Perhaps sensing that his provocation was going a tad too far.
Needless to say, Israeli MMA ace Rafael Aronov was more than a little irked considering he was a descendant of holocaust survivors.
Sadykov was 2-2 in MMA heading into the event. Aronov’s record consisted of 2 wins and 3 losses heading into the event.
Sadykov was likely more than a little upset considering he was coming off of two losses including a round one knock out.
Aronov ended up defeating him by KO/TKO in 4:10 of round one.
“I belong to a family of Holocaust survivors, it’s a double victory,” Rafael said after the match.
“I chose not to respond and preferred to respond to my opponent in the arena.” Rafael replied to the press after the event.
He only texted, “See you soon” before the match to his opponent.
Sadykov shared footage of the finish, hoping that would persuade the spectators about the perceived ‘bias’ against him. This wasn’t the smartest move all things considered.
After the event Ilyas Sadykov protested on social media that the judges influenced the decision and demanded a rematch, this time in Kazakhstan.
Sadykov believes he could be prepared for the rematch as early as May – which further adds fuel to the fire that he was actually hurt and that the stoppage was proper.
For his part, Rafael Aronov opted to remain focused on his sporting career but delivered a clear statement on Instagram.