The FF-Files: Eight of Swords

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“Eight swords form a cage, the sky is grey. I’m tied and I am blind, there is no escape.”
—Huntress, “Eight of Swords”

We continue our odyssey through the elite eight of Sherdog Fight Finder, all of whom are publicly marked for attempting to deceive the staff one too many times. Our first foursome of Abdel Fatah Toha, Belek Aliev, Dmitry Zadorozhnyuk and Dosbol Elegen can be revisited on the first half of our Top 8 analysis. As mentioned, these names were listed alphabetically based on their given name and not prioritized by offenses or other criteria.

We do not write this series happily, as even though the proceedings may seem comical, the fighters in question or their representative are trying to commit crimes. Sherdog is a public recordkeeping database of every MMA fight in the sport’s history, and to falsely try to change one’s record defrauds the organizations they work with and the federations or commissions that sanction them. Some individuals or their representatives even take action that could get them fined or imprisoned; for instance, passport fraud is no joke.

We present the second half of the Sherdog Fight Finder Top 8 offenders, which range from a whole bunch of little acts to one major, unforgivable one. How are there exactly eight competitors that fit into this special category? We kept the two fight fraud kings of Askar Mozharov and Bektursun Kaiypnazar in their own territory, as these eight goofs did not reach that level of absurdity, but still needed public shaming. A few of these combatants still fight, bereft of honor and goodwill but floating along to try to trick anyone who does not stumble upon our studies.

Name: Kirill Solovyov
Age: 24
Location: Russia
Social Media: N/A?
Offenses: Submitting forged documents

Most of the named individuals on our list sent in several flagged fights for sketchy events or tried to pull things again for years. Not Kiril Soloviev. His representative went for gold immediately, with their first contact asking us to add a missing fight for this young man. They went in what normally would be the gold standard of fight submissions: data about the fight and the fighters, a fight poster, a video of the match and actual, “official” judges’ notes from the bout. Great, right? Once we looked into it, everything fell apart like a house of cards.

First of all, the fight poster was not genuine. We could see the poor Photoshop job of the creator slotting in the opponent, whose face was laughably blurry. How many fight posters have you seen that feature a fighter’s face looking like he ran straight into a Gaussian blur filter, and the text of their name was also blurry? The video was not great either, as if filmed on a potato—in December 2019, no less—and lasting for about 30 seconds. Soloviev’s opponent in the video? Not the same guy on the poster. The nail in the coffin, however, was the beautifully crafted “judicial notes.”

Hearken back to our early 2021 FF-Files study titled “Of Forgeries and Falsehoods.” Do you, by chance, recall the first bit of show-and-tell? We’ll wait. Are you back? Did you laugh? We did. That pathetic excuse for a “document” they sent on Soloviev’s behalf is one of the most patently ridiculous submissions we have ever received. Who did they think that would fool? Comic sans font typed where a handwritten result should be, ripping off the scorecard of Cathal Pendred vs. Sean Spender at UFC Fight Night 59 in January 2015? Come on. Many complaints can be lobbed about Judge Doug Crosby, but he had nothing to do with this debacle despite his name on it. The worst part of all is that Kirill Soloviev, who looks nothing like our Soloviev, did compete at that 2019 JCK event, and he did land an armbar. This other Soloviev tapped someone other than the blurry guy, so it was clear he was trying to steal a win from someone else. He committed comprehensive fraud to Sherdog Fight Finder, and all he got was this lousy t-shirt.

Name: Nikoloz Kajaia
Age: 36
Location: Georgia
Social Media: Instagram
Offenses: Submitting numerous fake fights

The elder statesman of the crop, the 36-year-old Kajaia, also billed by Qajaia depending on the region, was no less of a pain than the youngsters. Before we get into the case of this Georgian welterweight, we need to point out that he competed in Spain a couple of months ago after taking over two years off, which included his profile getting marked. He fought a veteran of the Brave CF and Cage Warriors circuits, Erick da Silva, and lost. How did this happen? On his back in the second round, fully mounted, Kajaia was taking heavy punishment and on his way to getting his shoulder shredded by a keylock. Did he tap? Did the ref step in? Nope. Kajaia chomped down on da Silva’s chest hard enough to leave a bite mark and make da Silva scream and roll off. Our people’s champion, now disqualified, showed zero remorse.

That was par for the course for Kajaia, who had plenty of contact with Sherdog Fight Finder after his many infractions. It began with GUFF, and that is not simply slang for foolishness. Southwest of Russia and northeast of Turkey, Georgia has plenty of problems with record keeping. A future article titled “Georgia Blues” is slowly coming together because of all the issues occurring in the region, but we will save that for another day. Three different people sent in incomplete requests about a 2017 event for the Georgian Universal Fighting Federation, all bogus as the last with the same details and a video with a busted link. It came coupled with another fighter, whose own match several had tried to slide on their past shows. We turned it down.

The submitters were determined. One claiming to be the head of the Georgian Association of Mixed Martial Arts (GAMMA) sent in a ghastly letter where he “confirmed” that the fights happened, declaring it was not a GUFF card but a GAMMA show. As legitimate individuals do, they misspelled their organization’s name in the letter. It exploded when someone else tried to push another missing fight on an imaginary card that just so happened to feature Mozharov. Birds of a feather, etc. It got even worse when someone attempted to slide in that GAMMA fight on a Colosseum event that happened four years later. Enough had to be enough, and we marked his profile. Kajaia proceeded to email in 18 times, claiming simultaneously that he was framed but that he “asked individuals to help me with this”—meaning updating past fights but claiming they happened years later. Don’t bite our heads off; you did this.

Name: Sheesrahman Saifi
Age: 24
Location: Afghanistan
Social Media: Facebook
Offenses: Submitting numerous fake fights

Sheesrahman Saifi, also known as Shesurahman Shafi, is the first from Afghanistan to go down swinging, and based on the activity in the region, he will not be the last. As we chronicled in our “Far Afghanistan” piece, the Taliban has made all MMA in the entire nation illegitimate while it remains in power—a tragedy, to be sure. Where Saifi fits into the picture is twofold: he had plenty of nonexistent fights listed, and he signed himself up to officiate other fictional contests. In the former, we have plenty of details, while in the latter, we have his name listed as a referee on sheets of paper linked to fights that never happened.

There is a slight bit of mea culpa on our part, but we rectified it immediately. For a brief time, we registered a few events under the King Fighting Championship banner in Afghanistan. Everything appeared to check out, and with no staff member fluent in Dari or Farsi, we could not provide the ultra-fine-toothed comb that would be applied to practically any other league. We learned that these events were not only made up of patchwork past fights in the same arena but that the “head” of this KFC promotion charged fighters upwards of $50 to gain a slot on his nonexistent but approved fight card. Shafi weaseled his way onto numerous KFC non-shows.

The young man attached himself to several promotions we busted, like KFC, including later Original Fighting Championship events when they learned they could similarly make money. As his record failed to grow, he tried to change things up because of shady venture after exposed shady venture. A longstanding Sherdog policy is that once a fighter is a professional, they are always a professional. As Shafi made his pro debut in the past, he attempted to take amateur fights—while wearing protective gear—and had people say that some ammy fight should be pro because he was already a pro at the time. The straw that broke the camel’s back was a fight sent in under the guise of happening in 2022, but the accompanying video was posted in 2021, and the fighters’ names were listed on it. Sheesh.

Name: Youssef Mohamed
Age: 24
Location: Egypt
Social Media: Instagram
Offenses: Submitting numerous fake fights

Woe is me, cried Youssef Mohamed, also known as Youssef Wyatt. “The head of the [Evolution] organization…told me to do this,” he lamented. “He told me to send this video, this is not my fault in general,” he continued, “He told me all the videos are like some on YouTube.” Despite his pleas, the Egyptian who calls himself “The Gypsy King” writes that his pro record is 9-4-1. We have his record at 5-5, which is generous, given the evidence that his match in the Egyptian Kickboxing Federation was barely passable as mixed martial arts. With Egyptian MMA not quite keeping up with international standards, they allow athletes to slide back and forth between professional and amateur indiscriminately. Mohamed tried very hard to take advantage of that.

Unsurprisingly, the fighter attempted to claim that his losses were amateur matches while his wins were under pro rules. Calling himself “Wyatt,” at 17, Mohamed made his pro debut at AUFC 11, and he won. After that 2016 fight, things get hazy. Egyptian records are disappointing, not much tighter than those of Georgia. Despite the years of recording, no video provided by Mohamed or someone writing on his behalf was clear, as if he were a sasquatch. Countless hours untangling his record led to frustration when he started nosing in on other fighters as if he were simultaneously trying to become a manager.

Every legitimate request he would provide would be accompanied by at least one false one. For example, he tried to merge the profiles of two fighters named Mostafa, not realizing that one competed in 2013 when the other was 12. Once he was finally shut down once and for all, after the apologies and claims of a frame job, his reaction was unique. “I am really happy with what I did because I hate that player Youssef Mohamed, so I made a fake account in his name on Google and sent you wrong results about him. Thank you for putting this [mark] on his page and you will not be able to delete what you wrote on his page.” How long do you think it took him to backpedal? Four days. “I learned the lesson well, and now I do not send anything to the sharedog now. Can you forgive me and delete what you wrote on my page…please, and I have all the honor and thanks.” Sorry, pal. You made your bed; you have to sleep in it.

Did we miss someone who deserves to get legitimately denylisted by the MMA community? Please send inculpatory evidence, all Fight-Finder-related requests, and any additional fight documentation to [email protected].