Ali Heibati, an MMA fighter, received a permanent ban for assaulting a ring girl before a match. According to The Sun, the incident occurred during the Hard Fighting Championship promotion, where the Iranian fighter was participating.
Last Friday, he faced off against Arkady Osipyan in Moscow during the Hardcore MMA tournament.
Right before the fight was set to start, a ring girl named Maria stepped into the cage to signal the beginning of the first round. As she turned away from him to exit the cage, Heibati surprisingly kicked out at her.
MMA fighter Ali Heibati receives a lifetime ban after kicking a ring girl completely unprovoked.
Still unsure why we have “ring girls”, but regardless, who the f does he think he is? pic.twitter.com/YKWgfsGi3F
— Teddy Foster (@FareTheeWellSir) April 22, 2024
Maria then faced Heibati, and the referee reprimanded him. When the fight finally began, Osipyan easily handled his visibly agitated opponent.
After a series of ground strikes, the Russian fighter knocked Heibati out with just over 30 seconds left in the first round. Following his victory, Osipyan headed toward his team, only to be unexpectedly attacked by Heibati, who delivered a flurry of cheap shots from behind before being pulled away.
Surprisingly, Heibati remained in the cage after the formal announcement of the result. Despite being beaten, he put on his glasses and approached the microphone, visibly angry. In a fit of blind rage, he unexpectedly kicked out at a commentator. Following the fight, Heibati issued an apology to the ring girl on social media.
“Hello everyone. This is for Maria. I didn’t act right with her,” he wrote. “The reason was that before the MMA fight there were a lot of fistfights. I stayed there in the cage and I just wanted to go out and fight.”
“I was tense and, as most understand, emotions flourish in the fight, so before the fight I acted badly towards Maria.“I want to publicly apologise to her. I am a married man, so I respect the female gender.
“She was doing her job and I, after the fight, didn’t admit my guilt either, because they also hit me on the head. Tell Maria that I am sorry.”
Unfortunately, despite his apology, Heibati faced severe consequences. The Hard Fighting Championship handed him a lifetime ban. Prior to this, he had experience in boxing and kickboxing.
According to Tapology, this marked his debut in professional MMA. The original article was published in The Sun and has been shared here with permission.
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