‘Blatant disrespect’: Georgi Karakhanyan responds to public dismissal following ACB 90

Most of the world didn’t get to see what happened during the ACB 90 main card curtain jerker between Georgi Karakhanyan and Timur Nagibin due to glitches in the stream.

In the first round, Herb Dean looked to stop the action as Karakhanyan attempted to tighten a guillotine on Nagibin. Karakhanyan stopped applying pressure when Dean made contact with the duo, but then Nagibin threw a punch after the action stopped, leading to his disqualification.

As reported by RT’s Denis Geyko, who was present at the Moscow event, Karakhanyan appeared to be rocked by the shot as he fought with his corner in the direct aftermath of it.

Geyko also reported that Karakhanyan’s fans attacked Nagibin as he left the cage following his disqualification, posting a video of the skirmish.

Two weeks after the event, ACB reported via social media that a meeting involving all parties had resulted in Karakhanyan being fired. According to a post made on the promotion’s official Instagram, the result of the fight was overturned to a no-contest and Karakhanyan’s dismissal was based on a violation of his contract.

The statement reads: “Georgi Karakhanyan: for the unprecedented unsportsmanlike behavior prior to the fight and during the fight, for simulating and trying to cheat the referee, which lead to conflicts and brawls in the cage and on the arena — Georgi will be disqualified, the result of his fight against Timur Nagibin will be changed to NC as both fighters was disqualified. According to paragraph 5g of the contract between the fighter and promotion — the contract will be terminated and Georgi will be fired.”

The following day, Karakhanyan replied with his own version of events in the hopes to highlight how the promotion operates for fighters who are thinking about signing contracts with ACB.

The veteran claims that ACB told him to stir up animosity with his opponent ahead of the bout and refused to pay him his win bonus. He also reported that the promotion’s president, Yaragi Gitaev, “scolded, belittled and insulted” him. Karakhanyan insisted that in 12 years in MMA he has never encountered such “blatant disrespect”.

ACB did not reply to MMAFighting’s invitation to comment on the situation.