Diyar Nurgozhay did not have a great week in Las Vegas for his UFC debut.
Nurgozhay landed his shot in the UFC after winning the first 10 fights of his career, including his most recent bout on Dana White's Contender Series back in October.
When his big opportunity finally came against Brendson Ribeiro at UFC Fight Night: Vettori vs. Dolidze 2, pretty much everything that could go wrong did.
First the 27-year old fighter from Kazakhstan missed weight by 4.5 pounds on Friday meaning he had to forfeit 25% of his purse to his opponent, win or lose.
Then when he walked out to the cage for his fight on Saturday night, one of the guys in his corner spit water in his face to get him ready. This was of course streamed to the world in high definition wherever you stream ESPN+.
WTF #UFCVegas104 #UFCMax pic.twitter.com/zAM53WVc2e
— Pelunaton (@pelunaton) March 15, 2025
At least he closed his eyes so you know that he knew it was coming?
Finally, as if things couldn't get any worse, Nugozhay, who was a pretty big favorite, lost to Ribeiro via kimura during the second round. That's rough.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Fighter’s Coach Spits Water in His Face Moments Before UFC Debut.
