UFC: how the rise of Hong Kong’s Sasha Palatnikov brought light to dark Covid-19 year
- Coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on the sporting world but there were also opportunities – for some – like never before
- ‘When opportunities like this come, to turn them down is almost like losing the fight,’ says Palatnikov
The saga of Sasha Palatnikov’s life over the past 12 months – and of the Hong Kong fighter’s debut win in the UFC – reflects the madness of mixed martial arts in this time of Covid-19.
There has been a relentless stream of event cancellations and delays but the sport has also managed to throw up opportunities to fighters from across the globe for whom in previous years there might have been none.
Kevin Holland (5-0 for the year) and Khamzat Chimaev (3-0) became household names – MMA-friendly households, that is – thanks to winning runs across 2020 that were made possible by their own talent, for sure, but also through circumstance.
That the UFC rolled out 41 cards and 456 fights meant it also needed fighters to fill them as the spread of the virus laid athletes low and restricted the movement of many through travel bans.
Palatnikov, 31, was among those relative unknowns to leap at the opportunity to join the UFC – the very first from Hong Kong – and to fight, despite being given only two weeks’ notice and only just having experienced his own brush with Covid-19.