Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam. This means that all practicing Muslims are required to fast during the daylight hours of this Holy month, not even consuming water until the sun sets. And as you can imagine, it is pretty difficult to do. Even more so when you are a UFC fighter, in camp and competing against the best mixed martial artists in the world. This year, Ramadan started on March 1 and will end on March 31. And that put #1 ranked 205fer Magomed Ankalaev in a dicey situation.

The Dagestani is set to face light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira at UFC 313 on March 8, which means he was required to do a week of fasting before the fight. So what did the Dagestani powerhouse do? Well, he fasted for most of the days but did skip a couple of fasts since he needed to drink water while he was cutting weight for the title fight.

“If we’re talking about the training or the training camp, the preparation, that was done before Ramadan. So there was no issues with that. The only thing that we had to change is because the week of the fight is Ramadan, what I had to do was I had to break a couple of fasting sessions because I have to drink a lot of water in order for me to be able to make the weight.” The Dagestani told reporters through a translator.

Of course, skipping fasts is a tough choice for devout Muslims. Fortunately, there are some ways a Muslim can make up for a missed fast, depending upon the reason. If done for reasons considered legitimate in the Islamic tradition (such as illness, health concerns, age, etc.), one can either pay a fidyah or charitable donation or make up for the missed fast by fasting on another day after Ramadan.

If a fast is missed not for ‘legitimate’ reasons, however, one must make kaffara, which is far more stringent than the fidyah. Now, whether Magomed Ankalaev‘s missed fasts are ‘legitimate’ or not is not a question we can answer, but either way, there are ways that the Dagestani could make up for them later. But are there any rulings specifically on fighting during Ramadan? Let’s find out.

What do scholars say about fighters like Magomed Ankalaev skipping fasts during Ramadan?

We cannot find any rulings from Islamic scholars (fatwa) specifically about Muslims fighting during Ramadan. But interestingly, we did find many rulings from Muslim scholars prohibiting Muslims from boxing and MMA altogether!

Dr. Main Khalid Al-Qudah of the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America (AMJA), for example, has ruled that “Those sport activities are very violent and cause serious harm and injury to the players because they focus the most in hitting the face, and that is prohibited in Islam. Light hitting while training might be overlooked for training purposes only, but the actual practice is not acceptable at all.”

A ruling on ‘Islamweb.net’ on the topic cites the Prophet (PBUH) as saying “When you fight anyone avoid (hitting) his face,” which seems to be the main reason most scholars are against Muslims practicing martial arts like boxing and MMA. Many do permit Muslims training in these for self-defense purposes, but actual fights, where one is required to hit people in the face and get hit themselves, seem to be frowned upon.

But, in the end, whether or not to become a fighter or whether or not to fight during Ramadan comes down to each Muslim. According to Islamic teachings, it is for no one else but God to judge these choices. So as far as fighting during Ramadan, there is nothing expressly forbidding it, and since there is a mechanism for Muslims to make up for skipped fasts, it does seem like something a Muslim fighter can do, if one leaves aside the overall ruling on fighting notwithstanding.

And Magomed Ankalaev has made his choice. What do you think about the 205fer’s decision to skip a few fasts to cut weight for his UFC 313 clash against Alex Pereira?