Fighter admits to taking dive after being approached by gunman

Unfortunately, MMA is not always only punches, kicks, and grappling between a fighter and his or her opponent. Some events can get pretty extreme and even have a gunman involved too.

It’s the story of Brazilian fighter Leonardo Barbosa who competed at Truly Grand Fighting Championship 11 on February 11 in Afghanistan, against home favorite Ahmed Wali Hotak. The latter stopped Barbosa with a knee and punches during the second round, in a controversial ending.

TGFC 11 main event:

Ahmed Wali Hotak finishes Leonardo Barbosa with a knee to the body in the 2nd. Quite the reaction. Afghanistan crowd goes insane. #TGFC11 pic.twitter.com/dDsURSLVgs

— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) February 11, 2021

You can see in the video that after the knee, the Pitbull Brothers representative clearly overreacted and threw his head back, just seconds before the Afghani crowds erupted to celebrate the victorious local fighter.

Many fans online questioned that action and on Wednesday 17, Barbosa took on his social media to explain what happened (h/t Caposa).

https://www.facebook.com/leonardo.barreto.77770194/posts/1327852550917894

“I come here to divulge facts that occurred in my last fight that is not something that the sport preaches,” Barbosa wrote. “When I arrived in Afghanistan I was very well received by the organization of the event and also by the Afghan people. Everything was fine until the moment I arrived at the gym where the event happened. When I was in the locker room, a “supporter” arrived and said something that I didn’t understand and showed me that he was armed. So far so good because it is common for people to be armed there,” the Brazilian fighter continued.

“When the fight started, that same fan was with two security guards and kept shouting the same things he said to me in the locker room or something like that, always very angry. He returned to be aggressive between the first and the second round, I was just in a foreign country, I was scared, I wanted to preserve my life because I honestly did not want to find out how far the anger of that ‘supporter’ would go as a result of the fight.”

Leonardo Barbosa then decided to throw the fight and take the loss in order to preserve his life. The fighter also stated that he doesn’t blame the promotion or Afghanistan’s people for that and that they promised him a rematch on neutral soil.