ONE Championship: Mehdi Zatout protests six-month ban after Jonathan Haggerty altercation
- Venum Training Camp gym owner was barred from attending all events after Alaverdi Ramazanov confronted Haggerty in ring at ONE Fight Night 16
- ‘I didn’t do anything. I don’t understand why I’m involved in this. He’s my fighter but he’s also an adult. I’m not responsible for his actions,’ Zatout says
The gym owner and coach banned by ONE Championship boss Chatri Sityodtong for six months has protested his innocence.
Venum Training Camp chief Mehdi Zatout was barred from attending the promotion’s events after his fighter Alaverdi Ramazanov confronted Jonathan Haggerty in the ring following last Saturday’s ONE Fight Night 16 main event.
Zatout’s ban is a big blow to his Pattaya-based gym, whose fighters regularly compete on the weekly ONE Friday Fights cards at Lumpinee Stadium, as well as the martial arts promotion’s monthly events on Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service.
“I didn’t do anything and I don’t understand why I’m involved in this story,” Zatout, a former Muay Thai and kickboxing fighter in ONE, told the Post.
ONE: Lobo warns Haggerty ‘let’s see what happens’ after in-ring altercation
“He [Ramazanov] is my fighter but he is also an adult, and I’m not responsible for his actions. Yes, he told me at the beginning of the show he wanted to go face the winner, because he is ranked No 2.
“After the fight I told him there is no interest to stand up in the ring and do that. I truly said to Alaverdi to wait for [after] the end of the show, and he didn’t listen to me at all.
“I work by passion since many years and I will never try to disrespect the hard work of people beside me.”
Former champion Ramazanov had tried to challenge Haggerty, who had just beaten Fabricio Andrade to claim the vacant bantamweight kickboxing belt.
“I want to say something. You see! He’s scared of me. Scared. Scared. Just tell me. Why are you scared of me?” the Russian kickboxer said, after taking the microphone from ONE commentator Mitch Chilson and cutting the Briton’s title celebrations short.
“I mean, this guy is just trying to get a fight,” Haggerty responded.
“We’ve seen him on Instagram calling out Liam Harrison. We’ve seen him calling out everyone under the sun. I don’t know how he got in this ring but somebody get him out.”
“Well deserved, that was seriously embarrassing,” former bantamweight Muay Thai title challenger Harrison commented on Instagram.
Several fighters coached by the 40-year-old French-Algerian ‘Diamond Heart”, who announced his retirement in the cage after a TKO by of Asa Ten Pow in October, spoke up in his defence however.
“Mehdi has nothing to do with it and he wasn’t in the ring, unfair decision for him,” said Omar Halaby, who will make his ONE Friday Fights debut this week.
“Why this decision?” Marwen Houli, who fought on ONE Friday Fights in February, said. “First, Alaverdi didn’t push security for when he go inside the ring, and about Mehdi, he has nothing to do with it.”
Opinion among fans on social media was also divided, after the Post broke the news of Zatout and Ramazanov’s bans.
“Wow that’s harsh, but I suppose the best thing about ONE Championship is that it’s not UFC and their fighters don’t act like this. Let’s keep it that way,” one said.
“There’s and time and a place. I’m glad ONE Championship restored control and are keeping it professional,” another fan wrote.
“Good. Keep it classy. This is not pro boxing or pro wrestling,” read another comment.
Some said the incident was “so cringe” and the bans had been “well deserved”, while others blasted “stupid rules” and said it was an “unfair decision”.
“Why blame this behaviour on two people? Mehdi has nothing to do with it,” another comment said.
