It has been claimed that Iranian MMA Ali Heibati kicked a ring girl because she wasn’t covered up by a hijab in a video of a Moscow MMA tournament.
Verified accounts on twitter, including @BabakTaghvaee1 tweeted “A #Basij militiaman of the #IRGC named Ali Heibati who is also a MMA fighter kiched a ring girl over not having Islamic Hijab during HFC MMA event in #Russia. Russians taught him a good lesson. He is banned from competing in MMA games forever. He returned #Iran with broken bones.” on April 22, 2024. The tweet has received an about 260.6k views on X.
A #Basij militiaman of the #IRGC named Ali Heibati who is also a MMA fighter kiched a ring girl over not having Islamic Hijab during HFC MMA event in #Russia. Russians taught him a good lesson. He is banned from competing in MMA games forever. He returned #Iran with broken bones. pic.twitter.com/5tbKLLx06d
— Babak Taghvaee – The Crisis Watch (@BabakTaghvaee1) April 22, 2024
Several other accounts, including @SaP011, @MarianoGiustino, @MurzynfrogXXX, @DaveAtherton20 made the same claim that Iranian MMA fighter Ali Heibati kicked a ring girl in MMA tournament from Moscow. The archive can be read from above.
What is the Actual Truth About this Incident? : Fact
These statements are untrue, as a matter of fact. He reportedly stated, “The reason was that before the MMA fight, there were a lot of fistfights. I stayed there in the cage and I just wanted to go out and fight. I was tense and, as most understand, emotions flourish in the fight, so before the fight I acted badly towards Maria.”Later on, he expressed regret to her and was barred from receiving any more promotions permanently. We visited The Sun, which published an article on this incident on April 22, 2024 with the headline “KICKED OUT MMA fighter banned for life for kicking RING GIRL – before being attacked by crowd members after knockout loss”. The Iranian was competing in the Hard Fighting Championship promotion. A ring girl named Maria entered the cage just as the first round was about to begin, signalling the start of the fight. As she turned away from him to escape the cage, Heibati kicked out at her. She then turned to face Heibati, who received a reprimand from the referee.
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D-Intent’s Fact-Checking Results:
1873
— D-Intent Data (@dintentdata) April 22, 2024
ANALYSIS: Distorted
FACT: A video of an MMA tournament from Moscow that shows Iranian MMA fighter Ali Heibati kicking a ring girl has been shared, claiming that he kicked the ring girl as she was not wearing a hijab. The fact is that these claims are not true. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/kvbQYQJLAU
Intent:
Influencers are circulating distorted claims about the Iranian MMA fighter Ali Heibati to set their narrative based on religion. A video of an MMA tournament from Moscow that shows Iranian MMA fighter Ali Heibati kicking a ring girl has been shared, claiming that he kicked the ring girl as she was not wearing a hijab. These allegations are false. According to reports, he stated, Later on, “The reason was that before the MMA fight, there were a lot of fistfights. I stayed there in the cage and I just wanted to go out and fight. I was tense and, as most understand, emotions flourish in the fight, so before the fight I acted badly towards Maria.” He later apologized to her and was barred from receiving any more promotions permanently.
Conclusion:
Claim : A video of an MMA tournament in Moscow shows Iranian MMA fighter Ali Heibati kicking a ring girl, alleging that he did so because she was not wearing a hijab.
Fact : The fact is that these claims are not true. According to reports, he said, “The reason was that before the MMA fight, there were a lot of fistfights. I stayed there in the cage and I just wanted to go out and fight. I was tense and, as most understand, emotions flourish in the fight, so before the fight I acted badly towards Maria.” He later apologized to her and was permanently banned from his promotion.
