Imagine this: a UFC fighter is celebrating his win in his home country, and as soon as he is handed his country’s flag, it is snatched away. That’s what happened to Mike Malott at UFC Winnipeg. The supposed reason behind the incident is just as bizarre.
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UFC Winnipeg came with its share of controversies. Many fans believed Jamey-Lyn Horth was robbed in her fight against JJ Aldrich earlier in the night. Then came Mike Malott’s misfortune. First, the broadcast team incorrectly displayed the Ontario-born fighter’s birthplace as Cleveland, Ohio, during his walkout. Then, after securing the win, his Canadian flag was surprisingly snatched away.
Malott had just retired UFC veteran Gilbert Burns by securing a knockout win in the third round. But when he sat up on the cage fence to celebrate his biggest win in the promotion, his team was about to hand him his native Canada’s flag, but a UFC official quickly snatched it away.
Malott himself looked shocked by the move, but continued celebrating his win. Many were left dumbfounded by the incident, wondering why the UFC is against Canada when the fight itself was taking place in the country. Clips of the incident spread on social media, and many speculated that international politics was a possible reason. But the real culprit was money!
As it turns out, flags are actually prohibited inside the Octagon because they can block sponsor logos that are paid to be visible during the broadcast.
“They are allowed to walk out with flags,” longtime MMA manager Daniel Rubenstein explained on X. “They don’t allow them to display flags in the Octagon because it blocks the sponsors and logos that paid to be on the canvas and Octagon posts.”
they are allowed to walk out with flags, they don't allow them to display the flags in the octagon because it blocks the sponsors logos that paid to be on the canvas and octagon posts.
Flags were previously banned inside the Octagon after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The UFC aimed to avoid potential political tensions, particularly by preventing Russian fighters from displaying their flag. The rule applied to all fighters regardless of nationality. However, this ban was lifted in October 2023, and UFC CEO Dana White explained why.
“Yeah, flags are back,” White said. “I was on vacation during [Noche UFC], and the no flag thing drove me crazy, and I was like, yeah, f—k that we’re bringing flags back. It drove me crazy.”
Besides, Malott is not the only fighter who has had his country’s flag taken away during a UFC event.
UFC and its flag controversies over the years
Before UFC Vegas 84 in January 2024, Farid Basharat was denied the chance to walk out with the Afghanistan flag. And the bantamweight revealed that the issue stems from uncertainty surrounding which version of the national flag is officially recognized.
“I would love to walk out with the flag, but I don’t think they’re allowing the Afghanistan flag,” Basharat said. “Not the Afghanistan flag.”
The situation had already impacted his brother, Javid Basharat, who was denied permission ahead of UFC 294.
“We tried in Abu Dhabi for Javid, and they said no,” Basharat added. “Because they don’t recognize the current government flag, and the old one is not an official flag. So what flag are you going to bring out? The Afghanistan flag is still a no-no.”
For Basharat, the flag is more than a symbol. It’s a connection to a homeland shaped by hardship.
“People see war on TV, but they don’t realize it shapes entire generations,” he explained. Basharat went on to beat Taylor Lapilus by unanimous decision.
China’s Li Jingliang once had his country’s flag taken away from him, like Malott. This was, however, during the blanket ban on flags in 2022 and had no political undertones at the time.
Then there is Beneil Dariush. The lightweight veteran was in a pickle just like Farid Basharat. He wanted to display the Assyrian-American flag, but since it was not an official flag, the UFC did not recognize it.
Former bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili got his country’s flag tattooed on his chest to circumvent such rules. Ex-welterweight champion Belal Muhammad was presented without a flag next to his name on the UFC website for a while, until fans took notice and the UFC added a Palestinian flag later.
In a more extreme case, the UFC fired an employee and fined a fighter for displaying a flag. The athlete in question is Edmen Shahbazyan, who entered the Octagon with the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (Artsakh) flag in August 2020. It was during the time of Armenia’s border conflicts that he brought the unrecognized flag to his walkout. Turkish and Azerbaijani embassies complained to the UFC over the same.
So, even though carrying a country’s flag appears so minuscule, it appears the UFC wants to avoid controversy while giving its sponsors all the visibility they can.
