It’s been a while since we’ve seen Kazakh fighter Mariya Agapova in the cage. After a wild first round submission win over Hannah Cifers in June of 2020, she returned against Shana Dobson in September 2020 and threw an absolute tornado of violence at her opponent. Unfortunately for her, Dobson was still standing at the end and TKO’d the gassed Agapova in the second round.
After that loss Agapova underwent surgery to repair a right knee ACL tear and now we’re just waiting for her to return, hopefully a bit wiser and more measured than she was against Dobson.
Unfortunately, according to UFC flyweight fighter former training partner Maryna Moroz, those terms may never apply to Agapova. Moroz spilled some pretty wild tea in a recent interview with MMA Vestnik (transcribed by SportsExpress.ru), claiming Agapova was kicked out of their gym American Top Team.
“She says, ‘I don’t have money for food, I don’t have this. Oh, help,’” Moroz said. “She wrecked her car in a drugged state. All in all, a very interesting person… She got kicked out of two gyms, and at American Top Team she threatened the guys, and it was caught on camera. She was under the influence of drugs, she threatened the guys, and she was kicked out of the gym. Because she was threatening to stab and so forth.”
“Also stalked the wife of a fighter, who is pregnant — she also threatened to stab. In general, the police called her four times already here. She broke the doors… And that’s it — Maria Agapova, the UFC junkie.”
“Many tried to help her get out of the hole into which she kept climbing, climbing,” Moroz claims. “She came to training after the club, after all these drugs … Her pupils were dilated all the time. And when the coach said that I needed to stand in a pair with her, I replied that I could not work with her – she was insane. She behaves inappropriately. She can swing her elbow to hit you, then say ‘Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t understand.’ Just an inadequate person … And yes: she was kicked out of the gym because she behaved inappropriately.”
“Masha lives very close – through the house in my community – and I see her very often. She has already crashed two cars, I don’t even know how it could have happened. And very often the police come to her. In a month, the police came four times, and they stood by Masha all the time. I go to the pool, pass by, and there Masha is in handcuffs in a police car.”
We have little from Agapova to give you in terms of a rebuttal, but on her Instagram she recently posted “I continue to prepare for my fight at MMA Masters. A return is planned for September. Like you, I am waiting for the announcement of the fight.” She put up a photo two days ago of her training with ATT boxing coach Gabriel de Oliveira, whom she tagged. Moroz has thoughts on that too.
“Everyone thinks that Masha is so good because Instagram is a picture,” Moroz said. “Nobody knows real life, and that’s what angers me the most. Here, subscribers see that Masha posted a picture from the workout, and they think that she is so cool. So Masha walks around the clubs at night, and then comes to the hall and there can hardly stand on her feet. She is not even able to practice. Only a photo can do.”
Agapova’s nickname is “Demonslayer,” and if what Moroz says is accurate, Mariya may have some serious demons to slay before she’ll be able to get far in the UFC women’s flyweight division.