Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev says Russia will 'soon' start work on UFC events

Kirill Dmitriev, Vladimir Putin's investment envoy and head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, said on Tuesday that Russia will soon start work on UFC events. He made the promise in a post on X, TASS reported. In TASS's English version, the post reads:

"We will be working on UFC events in Russia soon."

The Russian text printed by Sports.ru opens with "Resilience!" (our translation) and says Russia will "also" start this work. The post names no date, venue, card or deal. The UFC hasn't commented, and as of Wednesday there was no word from the Kremlin either.

What he was reacting to

TASS says Dmitriev was reacting to a post about Dana White's appearance at Monday's White House briefing. Donald Trump brought White to the podium after announcing on Saturday that he'd offered him the press secretary job, which Trump later said was a joke. White said "I do not want to be in politics," Yahoo Sports reported.

None of the briefing coverage we read has White mentioning Russia. He did call Trump "the toughest, most resilient human being that I've ever met," according to Fox News. Our read is that Dmitriev's "Resilience!" was a nod to that line.

The UFC's last word on Russia came from White on October 24, after UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi. Asked through a translator whether there had been talks, he said "There hasn't been (any talks), no," according to USA Today. He added: "We have not talked about doing an event in Russia. But yeah, we probably should."

He has said this before

Dmitriev was involved the first time the UFC went to Russia. In 2018 the Russia-China Investment Fund, set up by his RDIF and China's sovereign fund, formed "UFC Russia" with the UFC and Abu Dhabi's Mubadala. That's according to the press release. Three events followed:

• September 15, 2018, Moscow: Aleksei Oleinik submitted Mark Hunt with a rear-naked choke in the first round, in front of 22,603 fans (Wikipedia).
• April 20, 2019, St. Petersburg: Alistair Overeem stopped Oleinik in the first round (Wikipedia).
• November 9, 2019, Moscow: Zabit Magomedsharipov outpointed Calvin Kattar (Wikipedia).

On March 9, 2025, after Magomed Ankalaev won the light heavyweight title, Dmitriev wrote on X: "We believe that we will be able to resume UFC events in Russia soon." He made a similar pledge that April after meeting Trump envoy Steve Witkoff. Asked about it at a press conference in Kansas City, White said "we never stopped," pointing to Russian fighters still competing, according to RT. RT added that White had earlier suggested a full return depended on better US-Russia relations.

No event came of either promise.

The obstacles

International sport largely isolated Russia after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. That has started to ease, but the biggest events still won't go there, USA Today notes. In January, Merab Dvalishvili said the UFC told him his Petr Yan trilogy couldn't headline the White House card "because Petr is from Russia," LowKick MMA reported. The UFC hasn't explained it publicly.

Russia's champions and the region

Russia has two current UFC champions. Yan kept the bantamweight title by beating Dvalishvili on October 24, closing as a −162 favourite (our page). Islam Makhachev, the welterweight champion, has won 17 straight (our page). Yan pointed to a new arena in his home city of Yekaterinburg that holds 12,000 to 13,000, according to MMA Sucka.

The UFC has been adding events elsewhere in the former Soviet Union. It signed a multi-year deal with Baku, Azerbaijan, in April (Cageside Press). In June, TASS reported, citing one unnamed source, that 2027 events are planned for Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Georgia (AgentMMA). Russia wasn't on that list.

We think this is a statement of intent, not a booking, because nothing on the UFC's side has moved since White's answer less than three weeks ago. The next real signal would come from White or TKO, most likely at White's next press conference.