Where is Rinat Fakhretdinov From? Ethnicity, Nationality, Religion, and More

Rinat Fakhretdinov aka ‘Gladiator’ considers Muhammad Ali his hero and that is why he might be one of the toughest contenders at welterweight in UFC. He has an amazing record of 22-1-1 at welterweight as of now and the former law student hails from Russia. His goals were always as straight as an arrow and he never deterred from them.

Since the age of 13, the boy from Moscow was determined to become a combat sports expert and a star athlete. So let’s see the grueling journey that brought him to the final stage.

All we know about Rinat Fakhretdinov’s ethnicity and nationality

‘Gladiator’ was born into a Volga Tatar family on 28th September 1991 in the village of Belozerye in the Romodanovsky District of the Mordovian ASSR. This was an autonomous republic within the Russian SFSR Soviet Union. He started with freestyle wrestling and Kudo but moved from Saransk, Mordovia to Moscow and joined the Sparta combat Sambo club in 2011. The International Martial Arts Center member finished his primary school moved to Kazan and started combat sports at 13 then he returned to Mordovia in 2006, where he graduated from school.

After that, the Russian fighter also had to serve in the military and finally, after the tenure finished, he returned to combat to get into UFC. He was always a strong personality and to sustain himself away from home, he took up multiple jobs while also studying law at Mordovia State University through correspondence. So not only was he training in combat, he was earning through various jobs and studying law!

He has a very disciplined and determined personality which might have something to do with his ethnicity as well. So let’s dive deep into the fighter’s beliefs and how he perceives the world.

What is Rinat Fakhretdinov’s religion?

As was mentioned, above, he was born into a Volga Tatar family. Now the Volga Tatars or simply Tatars are a Kipchak-Bulgar Turkic ethnic group native to the Volga-Ural region of western Russia. Their native language is Tatar, a Turkic language family language and the predominant religion is Sunni Islam. He has given his nod to his culture and religion many times through interviews and kind gestures to other combatants. There was one time when he was fighting against Kevin Lee in 2023 and presented him with a unique gift during the face-off- which is generally a time of simmering angst.

The  Belozerye native decided to present a set of Muslim prayer beads since Kevin Lee was also a representative of his faith and converted to Islam in 2021. However, the exchange of gifts ended there and the Octagon only witnessed the exchange of strong punches which ultimately made ‘Galdiator’ win.

There was another instance of him being proud of his roots when he was talking about his wife and daughter in an interview with Nikita Gorshenin at Sports Express. He spoke about his Tatar roots and said that even though his wife is from Dagestan their daughter is learning Tatar as well. It is interesting to note that the welterweight star became the first Tatar in the history of UFC. He also got appreciation from Tatarstan.

During the interview with Sports Express, he said, “The head of the republic knows me, we met at Sabantuy, he hugged me, said that he saw my interview about the skullcap, and he was very pleased. But there were no sponsors, and there still aren’t any. There are other people, far from Tatars, who are helping me now. This is my club, for which I play, this is Rocky, this is Zelimkhan — thank you, brothers. And this is Uncle Kolya, the Granit hockey club, he helps me. Of the Tatars, there is Marat, who has been with me for 10 years now. There is also Rinat Abuzyarov from Penza. But from Tatarstan or Mordovia (where Fakhretdinov was born).”

After that, he was asked about his level of Tatar language and he explained the same. The ‘Gladiator’ said, “My wife is not Tatar, but the first thing I said was that the children should know Tatar. They will know Russian because the TV and everything around is in Russian, but she [the daughter] should know Tatar. I speak Tatar with her at home. It’s still hard for her to speak two languages, but at home it’s Tatar.”

At present the Russian welterweight sensation is gearing up for his battle against Nursulton Ruziboev at UFc 308. Are you excited about this fight and do you think he will win?