UFC Releases Ottman Azaitar For Circumventing COVID-19 Protocols

The UFC has cut ties with fighter Ottman Azaitar for circumventing the company’s COVID-19 protocols ahead of UFC 257. MMA Weekly reports that the UFC has released Azaitar, who was set to face Matt Frevola on the Saturday event. Azaitar was not at the weigh-ins and it was announced the fight was off, with Dana White telling UFC Arabia that Azaitar and his team were caught getting a guy inside the UFC safety bubble for unknown reasons.

“He and his team cut their wristbands off and got them to people on the outside (of the UFC safety bubble), one guy,” White said (per MMA Weekly). “This guy got inside the bubble, went in through a room, shimmied down four balconies, went in through (Azaitar’s) balcony, and dropped off a bag of we don’t know what. Then changed his clothes and went back outside of the bubble. We got everything on camera, we saw the whole thing, and how it all went down, pulled his fight and cut him.”

Frevola will now fight Arman Tsarukyan, whose opponent Nasrat Haqparast was forced off the card due to illiness.