Russian lightweight Vyacheslav Borshchev, who will fight under the UFC banner this weekend, explained why he is not going to step into the octagon with the Russian flag, despite the fact that the world’s strongest league has officially lifted the ban on displaying state symbols.
“I’m Russian, I’m not ashamed, I love my culture, but to run and shout about it is somehow stupid,” “Slava Klaus” said in an interview with the channel “Ushataika”. “Once I turned pro, I never once went out with a flag, I’ll explain why.”
“When I was in the national team, it was a great pride for me to come out with my flag because I represented Russia. Now I fight for money, and I don’t think it’s appropriate. I don’t fight for Russia, for Orthodox people. I represent the Russians, but I don’t fight for them. I don’t want to be hypocritical – I fight for money. When they stop paying me, I’ll stop fighting. So, I don’t see the point of coming out with a flag.”
“I’ll say more. Probably, if it were forbidden to come out with the Russian flag specifically, maybe, purely out of principle, I would have come out to show my position. But since everyone was banned, why? Everyone already knows that I am Russian. When they see the number of letters in my name, they get scared, like, what kind of spell is this?”
Recall that Vyacheslav Borshev will return to the octagon on November 11 at UFC 295 in New York, and the opponent of the Russian will be a representative of Azerbaijan Nazim Sadikhov.
Source: https://fighttime.ru/news/item/33106-boets-ufc-borshchev-derus-ne-za-rossiyu-a-za-dengi.html?rand=19907
