“The last time I flew to Bahrain, I was refused there immediately” – Vitaly Minakov when obtaining a US visa

Russian heavyweight Vitaly Minakov told that he was denied when applying for a US visa.

The 38-year-old Bellator fighter is unable to obtain a US visa and has not competed since October 2021. Minakov’s MMA stats are 22 wins and 2 losses, in 2013 the fighter has won the Bellator championship title.

How and when was the last time you tried to obtain a US visa?

– In general, I see no objective reason to refuse my visa, everything was fine with my American visa for more than 10 years, it was automatically renewed for me. But the last time I flew to Bahrain I was immediately turned away. And before that, I had two refusals, but the documents were left for examination, questions were asked, and after that a refusal came.

Are you currently booked for an interview?

– No. I visited Bahrain two months ago, but now I think I will give another try in the fall.

– How many times in those almost two years that you haven’t competed, have you heard the specific name of the opponent they’re trying to set up a fight for you with?

– I was assigned a fight in May this year in Paris, but for some reason the manager said that I was taken out of the tournament. And they made it known that they were interested in me speaking in the United States. I know there are tournaments in Europe, but for some reason they don’t put me there,” Minakov told .

The Russian fighter is managed by Ali Abdelaziz and Rizvan Magomedov, who worked with Khabib Nurmagomedov for a long time.

The next UFC Fight Night tournament will take place on June 18 in Las Vegas (USA), in the main event the Italian Marvin Vettori and the American Jared Cannonier will meet. Watch the live broadcast on the channel from 5:00 a.m. (Moscow time) on Sunday, and also from 1:55 a.m. (Moscow time) on the Match! Fighter” and the matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru websites.