Lopushanskiy did not get the outcome he wanted in the cage, and now his promotion is facing a different kind of scrutiny altogether.
The 155-pound (70 kg) prospect stepped in against Dilovarshokh Tuychiev under the Kuznya FC banner, in what was only his third professional outing. When the final horn sounded, the judges called it a draw, a verdict that Lopushanskiy made clear he did not agree with.
He took to Instagram shortly afterward to air his frustration, writing, “The match ended in a draw, but I strongly disagree with this decision.” He continued, “I believe he has done enough to win and deserved a show of hands.”
Rather than dwell on the setback, Lopushanskiy struck a forward-looking tone in the same post. “I’m not going to pause or make excuses,” he wrote, adding, “We will draw conclusions, we will continue to work even harder and come back stronger.” He closed with a promise to his supporters: “This is just the beginning of my journey. We’re moving forward!”
That might have been the end of it, an athlete voicing his disappointment and moving on to the next camp. But the story took a strange turn when Kuznya DC finally released footage of the bout, posting it alongside the rest of the card’s videos several days after the event itself.
According to the combat sports database Tapology, that footage does not hold up to scrutiny.
Tapology laid out its case, framing the situation as a cautionary tale for the sport. “Lost your last match? No problem, just use AI to redo the match video to make it look like both hands were raised for a draw,” the outlet wrote on X, pointing directly at Kuznya’s broadcast as an example of exactly that.
The focus of the alleged tampering centers on a small but telling detail, a flag draped near Lopushanskiy’s arm during the result announcement. Tapology zeroed in on how oddly it behaved on screen.
“The athlete on the right, Mikhail Lopushanskiy, looks pretty weird with the way the flag is sticking to and moving around his arm,” Tapology noted, describing motion that did not track the way real fabric would.
To back up the claim, Tapology says it tracked down still photography captured ringside by a photographer who attended the event in person. Those images, according to the outlet, tell a noticeably different story than the video the promotion eventually released.
“Thankfully, we found a photographer’s sh0ts who was at the event,” Tapology wrote, presenting the comparison as the clearest evidence that the footage had been doctored after the fact.
Laying out the sequence of events, Tapology suggested the visual evidence was reshaped only after Lopushanskiy’s public complaint began drawing attention.
“A few days after the fight, the fighter himself complained on Instagram that he should have won the fight, but he got a draw,” the outlet wrote. “A couple of days after that, the ‘Kuznya’ league posted the manipulated footage along with all the other fight videos from the event.”
Based on that timing, Tapology drew a pointed conclusion about who was behind the alleged edit. “The league and the athlete worked together to cover this up,” the outlet stated, arguing that the altered clip was designed to visually reinforce a draw that photographic evidence does not fully support. “None of this is real,” Tapology added flatly.
Beyond this single result, Tapology used the episode to flag a broader concern for the sport moving forward, one where footage itself can no longer be taken at face value. “And it’s going to keep happening and get harder to detect,” the outlet warned. “But for now, they’ve been caught.”
Neither Kuznya FC nor Lopushanskiy has issued a detailed response to the specific allegations of digital manipulation.
Lost your last fight? No problem, just use AI to redo the fight video to make it look like both hands were raised for a draw.
Can’t say we’re surprised to see this. And it’s going to keep happening and get harder to detect. But for now, they’ve been caught. pic.twitter.com/gT8BOKZ9zO
— Tapology (@tapology) September 10, 2026
