UFC 308 press attendee asks Dana White for a fight contract and appears to get it

Press conferences for the Ultimate Fighting Championship are often pretty boring, but today the UFC 308 press conference in Abu Dhabi was the site of an unprecedented event.

After some media members and fans had already focused on Dana White and not the fighters, a self-proclaimed fighter from Tajikistan with a professional mixed martial arts record of 9-0 followed.

Dorobshokh Nabotov, listed at 7-0 by the record-breaking website Tapology, decided to make a bold appearance and addressed the boss directly, asking Dana for a shot in the UFC in halting English while reading from his cell phone .

White was clearly confused for a moment before seeming to decide, “Why not?”, waving the child onto the stage with his hand

An “elite athlete from Tajikistan” with a 9-0 MMA record asks at the UFC 308 press conference if he can be in the UFC. Dana says come here, shakes his hand and sends him backstage. Guy read his lines from his phone.

I wonder if he’s actually 9-0. pic.twitter.com/1aoracl9Tg

— Val Dewar (Flyweight Connoisseur) (@the3els) October 24, 2024

Dana White shook the boy’s hand and sent him backstage, presumably to talk to someone else who works for the company while the press conference continued.

The CEO asked the boy why he wasn’t participating in the Contender Series that just ended. So maybe he won’t give him a fight with the UFC right away, but rather let him wait until next summer.

However, the matchmakers always maintain a list of regional fighters who can be called up at short notice if a UFC fight in their weight class falls through. The Tajik fighter was begging for a short-term opportunity, so it’s likely we’ll see Nabotov in the UFC in the coming months.

This will be an interesting story to look back on as his career reaches the next level, the fighter who changed his life forever by asking for what he wanted at a press conference in front of the whole world. It was quite possible that he would be ashamed, but Dorobshokh did it anyway.

However, fighting UFC-level opponents will be a whole new challenge. We’ll find out if Dorobshokh Nabotov is up to the challenge.