UFC commentator Laura Sanko has had to clarify that she does not, in fact, have a crush on welterweight contender Shavkat Rakhmonov after a social media storm.
The blonde bombshell is one of the most recognisable faces and voices on the UFC broadcast, and this year became the first woman to do colour commentary for the top MMA promotion. And in a series of social media posts, fans had joked her interest in Rakhmonov may be more than admiration for his skills.
This rumour became a running joke on Twitter and Instagram, with the broadcaster claiming that she had become wildly popular in the fighter's native Kazakhstan after wearing his traditional Kazakh headdress. However, when his teammate Gerald Meerschaert joked during a weigh-in show that he could get her his number, she was forced to make her intentions clear.
"Can we please address this?" She asked, before launching into a defence. "I don't have a crush on the man. I like his fighting style. An entire country thinks that I [have a crush] and I need to correct the record. I'm still a fan, I just don't have a crush. The entire country of Kazakhstan is very excited about it, because I got like 20,000 new followers after [the rumours began]."
The joke started after the UFC 285 weigh-in show when she admitted that she would get "nervous" if she ever had to interview the unbeaten 170lb fighter. "Shavkat Rakhmonov, that man, he gives me chills," she said. "I've never interviewed him, I've never spoken to him, but I feel like I would get nervous."
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Sanko has been a groundbreaking broadcaster for the UFC, becoming one of the most respected voices in a male-dominated industry during her time with the company. The 40-year-old former fighter commentated on LFA before this year getting the call up to take on the desk for Derrick Lewis vs Sergey Spivak.
She is often the butt of sexist jokes online, and has brushed off accusations of making her way to her current position in nefarious ways, previously telling media: "You're always going to have detractors. I think women, in particular, get commented on in a particular way.
"On the way up there is a lot of questioning... I'll just say it, the number of people I've supposedly slept with is just endless. It's so long and it would be exhausting if it was true. And I don't see other well-respected voices in the sport, they don't get that, Brett Okamoto doesn't get that... So I hope, by being the first to go down this, can be a little bit of a gnarly path at times."
