Ottman Azaitar (born February 20, 1990) is a German

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorpo ...

who currently competes in the

Lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight ...

division of the

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

. He is the younger brother of

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

fighter Abu Azaitar.

Background

Ottman Azaitar was born to a Moroccan family in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Azaitar grew up in the Dellbrück district of Cologne until he moved with his family to Weiden. He attended the King Fahd Academy in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

until the age of 15 where he was raised with traditional Islamic upbringings. The controversial school, which shut down in 2017 of its own accord, was funded by the Saudi government and suspected of “attracting Islamists to Germany.” At the academy, all school subjects were taught exclusively in Arabic. This unusual school career initially had a negative impact on his German language skills, which became noticeable when he moved to the Hildegard of Bingen Gymnasium in Cologne. However, the initial language difficulties were overcome and he left the high school after graduating in 2012 with a grade point average of 1.9. After graduating from high school, he took up studies in business administration. He began his sports career as a six-year-old boy. Until the age of ten, he learned the techniques of

jiu-jitsu Jujutsu ( ; ja, link=no, 柔術 , ), also known as jiu-jitsu and ju-jitsu, is a family of Japanese martial arts and a system of close combat (unarmed or with a minor weapon) that can be used in a defensive or offensive manner to kill or subdu ...

. He then switched to

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

, muay thai and kickboxing, in which he also won several important titles until 2012. These include his title as champion in muay Thai of the state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

in 2011 and the following year as German champion in muay Thai. At the same time, Azaitar joined the German national muay Thai team and participated in the world championship in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

on May 19-28, 2012.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Starting his career in 2014, Ottman fought mainly in regional German promotions and then later joined Brave Combat Federation. While in BRAVE, in his third fight for the organization, at BRAVE CF 9 on November 17, 2017 in Bahrain, he won the BRAVE Combat Federation Lightweight Championship against Alejandro Martinez via 3rd round TKO. In his next fight, he fought Danijel Kokora in a welterweight non-title bout, picking up a 31-second KO. He was later stripped of the Lightweight Championship after refusing to defend it in a timely manner, with Mohammed Shahid, the President of Brave CF, releasing the following statement:

“Ottoman Azaitar has had a great career with Brave Combat Federation, fighting a really good fight in Morocco which was not for the title. If you look at the lightweight division today, we have not had a title defense for nearly a year at this point. Of course, this is very unfair to the division as a whole, and we have to make a decision on that. We are confirming right now; November in Bahrain, we will have a lightweight title fight. And we’ve been working to make that fight happen for a while now. If we don't have that caliber of fighters, the one is willing to fight against the best in the world, that fighter doesn't have a place here at Brave, To make it official; we have stripped Ottman Azaitar of the lightweight title. We will have a match for the vacant title during the Brave International fight Week in November. The most important thing here, the message, is to make sure that we have athletes who actively want to fight the best in the world – especially as champion.”

Ultimate Fighting Championship

On September 7, 2019, Ottman made his UFC debut at UFC 242 against

Teemu Packalén Teemu Packalén (born May 22, 1987) is a retired Finnish mixed martial artist. He was the Amateur Champion of Finland and the Finnish Open Championship winner in 2010. Packalén competed in the Lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Champi ...

. He won the fight via knockout in the first round. A bout between Azaitar and

Khama Worthy Khama Worthy (born October 15, 1986) is an American retired mixed martial artist who competed in the Lightweight division. A professional since 2012, he has fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), King of the Cage and CES MMA. Backgr ...

was previously scheduled to take place at

UFC 249 ''UFC 249: Ferguson vs. Gaethje'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on May 9, 2020 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. It was originally planned to ...

. However, the event was cancelled in early April due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The fight was then rescheduled to UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Sakai. In turn, the pair was removed from that event due to undisclosed reasons and moved to UFC Fight Night: Waterson vs. Hill Azaitar went on to win the fight via technical knockout in the first round. This fight earned him the '' Performance of the Night'' award. On November 21, 2020, it was announced that Azaitar was scheduled to fight against Matt Frevola on January 24, 2021 at

UFC 257 ''UFC 257: Poirier vs. McGregor 2'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on January 24, 2021 at the Etihad Arena on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Background Starting with ...

. However, on the day of the weigh-ins it was announced that Azaitar withdrew from the bout. It was later announced that Ottman had broken safety protocols and

Dana White Dana Frederick White Jr. (born July 28, 1969) is an American businessman who serves as president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a global mixed martial arts organization. In August 2019, White's net worth was estimated at $500 milli ...

released the following statement on the matter:

“He and his team cut their wristbands off and got them to people on the outside, one guy, This guy got inside the bubble, went in through a room, shimmied down four balconies, went in through (Azaitar's) balcony, and dropped off a bag of we don't know what. Then he changed his clothes and went back outside of the bubble. We got everything on camera, we saw the whole thing, and how it all went down, pulled his fight and cut him.”

As the result of the breach in COVID-19 safety protocols, Azaitar was released from UFC on January 23, 2021. However, one month later, UFC decided to reverse the decision after taking a strong stand of their initial decision, UFC reinstated Azaitar stating to give Azaitar the "second chance". After almost 2 years away from the octagon, the bout between Azaitar and Matt Frevola was rescheduled for November 12, 2022 at

UFC 281 ''UFC 281: Adesanya vs. Pereira'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on November 12, 2022, at the Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, United States. Background A UFC Middle ...

. He lost the fight via knockout in the first round.

Championships and accomplishments

** Performance of the Night (Two time) * Brave Combat Federation ** BRAVE Combat Federation Lightweight Championship (One time)

Mixed martial arts record

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New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

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Tangier Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the capi ...

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Castrop-Rauxel Castrop-Rauxel (), often simply referred to as Castrop by locals, is a former coal mining city in the eastern part of the Ruhr Area in Germany. Geography Castrop-Rauxel is located in Germany between Dortmund to the southeast, Bochum to the sou ...

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Rheinberg Rheinberg () is a town in the district of Wesel, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Rhine, approx. north of Moers and south of Wesel. It comprises the municipal districts of Rheinberg, Borth, Budberg, an ...

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Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...

, Germany ,

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Azaitar, Ottman 1990 births Living people German male mixed martial artists Lightweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing Muay Thai Mixed martial artists utilizing boxing German people of Moroccan descent German Muay Thai practitioners German male boxers German male kickboxers Sportspeople from Cologne Ultimate Fighting Championship male fighters