“Flags are back. If any flags hurt your feelings, too f-cking bad,” is what UFC CEO Dana White said during the UFC Fight Night 229 event. After the promotion stopped allowing fighters to carry flags due to the unrest between Russia and Ukraine, it was palpable when Joe Pyfer daunted the United States flag following his second-round submission of Abdul Razak Alhassan at the UFC Apex.

The boss was asked questions at the UFC Fight Night 229 presser, about this and declared to MMA Junkie that he thought about the no flag policy during the Mexican Independence Day, and it ‘drove him crazy’. Since then, ‘flags have been back,’ however, there was a controversy with current Palestinian-American welterweight champ, Belal Muhammad, when his profile on UFC.com had no flag. However, Muhammad posted on X that the bossman apologized to him and restored the Palestinian flag on the website on his profile. But it seems the flag problem is back to haunt the UFC head honcho, and the latest person to erupt the controversy is Nikita Krylov.

The Light Heavyweight star expects to have a Russian flag next to his name when he is about to walk towards the Octagon for his fight against Dominick Reyes at UFC 314. The 30 – 9 – 0 fighter explained the situation during a UFC 314 post-fight presser and explained the confusion about his home country. “Yes, we spoke about it with the UFC, even two events before I was asking about putting Kislovodsk, Russia, as the place I’m fighting out of,” Krylov said. “I’ve been living there for a few years now, and I think that I now have the honor of representing them.”

“The reason why a few events back there was no flag next to my name is that most of my life, I lived in Donetsk [in Ukraine],” Krylov added. “Donetsk is a city that’s still kind of being [in dispute], not everybody thinks where Donetsk belongs.” However, at the moment, he said that he resided in Russia and wanted the flag next to his name.

This is not the first time that there has been a flag controversy in the UFC. The case with Muhammad and Krylov is not the only one because Joshua Van harbored a deeper wish to carry a Myanmar flag into the Octagon at UFC 310. However, he did not blame Dana White at the post-fight presser and said that it was another official who was supposed to approve the request. In fact, ‘Remember the Name’ defended the bossman against allegations that he shows bias towards some fighters and their flags.

Belal Muhammad defended Dana White

Muhammad faced many hurdles on his way to the title shot, and he earned it after 19 fights and 14 wins, including a 9-fight winning streak. Belal Muhammad finally got his title shot against Leon Edwards at UFC 304. He is now going to defend his title against Jack Della Maddalena in May at UFC 315. 

During a Youtube chat with former UFC welterweight title challenger Jake Shields, the latter asked Muhammad, “It just shows you there might be a little bit of bias in that direction.” ‘Remember the Name’ then responded, “Yeah, and then, for me, right, I’m just happy that I got the opportunity. People like to say things and do this, but as you said,—[for] Dana, it doesn’t matter to him. I’m glad that it took me the long road, but they did give it to me, right? So, I just had to make the most of it.” 

Meanwhile, Muhammad had calmly addressed the issue of his Palestinian flag not being represented on the UFC website and declared that the boss had heard his plea. The CEO acted immediately, and Muhammad addressed the situation on social media. In a video shared on X, he said, “I just want to give a quick shoutout to Dana. Talked to him—he said flags are back up tonight, apologized, and that’s why I love the UFC. I love this company, and that’s why Dana is the man.” So this time, will ‘The Miner’ get his wish granted? Share your thoughts in the comments.