Mariya Agapova delivered a devastating knockout during UFC Vegas 39 and then unloaded on Maryna Moroz in a post-fight callout. Agapova dominated Sabina Mazo for her second victory in the UFC and then turned her eyes toward Moroz, a former teammate who had spread rumors about her in a July 2021 interview.
When asked by Paul Felder who she wants to fight next after the submission win over Mazo, Agapova said, “I would like to call Maryna Moroz because she talked s*** in an interview about me. But make sure, you know, that you found someone else because I’m sure she gets scared of this fight.” Agapova ended the interview with a smile.
Moroz responded to Agapova’s call-out with a comment on the MMA Junkie Instagram feed, writing, “Don’t worry, your time will come.😘 😈” The 30-year-old Ukrainian trained with Agapova at American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida. Agapova now trains at ATT’s gym in Sunrise, Florida. Moroz, a 30-year-old Ukrainian, is 5-3 in her UFC career, which dates back to 2015, and has not fought since a win over Mayra Bueno Silva in March 2020. Before Bueno Silva, she also beat Mazo, in March 2019.
Agapova, a 24-year-old flyweight from Kazakhstan now fighting out of Florida, put her August 2020 upset loss to Shana Dobson in the rear-view mirror with the bounce-back performance against Mazo on October 8, 2021. With the victory, Agapova improved to 10-2 in her career. She started her UFC career with a submission win over Hannah Cifers in June 2020 and previously competed in Invicta FC. She lost a Dana White’s Contender Series bout against Tracy Cortez in 2019 and has also fought in Russia and China.
Agapova was seen as a rising star before her loss to Dobson. She entered that fight as a massive -1667 favorite, according to Best Fight Odds. Agapova was a +192 underdog at the start of her fight against Mazo, according to the MMA betting database.
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Mariya Agapova Said She Wants to ‘Smash’ Maryna Moroz for Trying to ‘Destroy My Career’
During the post-fight press conference with the media after UFC Vegas 39, Agapova expanded on her comments about Moroz. She told reporters, “She’s just jealous. She’s sneaky. And she tried to destroy my career. I lost sponsorship because of her interview and got into really big trouble situation. And I’d like to punish this b****. Because she tried to destroy my career. I want to smash her.”
She added, “We were training together, we was teammates. And after I left she started lying and talking s*** about me. And I lost a lot of sponsorship. I lost fans. That was not nice. That was super sneaky. Because I left not because I was drug addict, like threaten somebody with a knife, I left because I just have arguement with some guy. I left. She just talked s*** about me. She’s a liar. I just get pissed off. … She’s not a really good person. I’d like to beat her a** and smash her face. … I think she’s just trying to put me down becasue I left. She just using my weakness to put me down to destroy my career. It was super sneaky and not nice. If you want to talk s***, be ready to answer for your words.”
Agapova also used the press conference to give credit for the impressive performance to her coach, Roger Krahl, of ATT Sunrise, “I feel different. I feel better with my coach Roger, because he gives me a lot of attention.” She said he helped her find a team of people to help her be ready to fight and got her discounts on supplements, “I’m really grateful,” she said.
Agapova added, “It’s my first fight working with Roger and that’s amazing. I’m happy I found Roger, he’s the best. … This is a fresh start, because I come to Roger six weeks before y fight. But my next camp I’ll prepare even more seriously, because this camp we don’t have much time. It’s a new beginning.”
When asked if she would be too emotional to fight Moroz, Agapova said, “My new coach, Roger, he keep me calm. My corner they’re all keeping me calm. They say Mashka, relax, relax, breathe.”
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Moroz Called Agapova a ‘Junkie’ in an Interview With a Russian Media Outlet & Spread Rumors About Their Time Training Together
The drama between Agapova and Moroz began when Moroz gave an interview to Russian outlet MMA Herald in July 2021 and talked about her time training alongside Agapova. According to Sport Express, Moroz said Agapova used drugs and was kicked out of ATT because of her behavior:
She says, ‘I don’t have money for food, I don’t have that. Oh, help,’ said Moroz. – Crashed the car in a drugged state. In general, a very interesting person … She was kicked out of two halls, and in the American Top Team she threatened the guys, and this was filmed. She threatened the guys under drugs, and she was kicked out of the hall. Because she threatened to stab and so on. She also pursued the wife of one soldier, who is pregnant, and also threatened to stab her. In general, the police called her four times already here. Knocked down the doors … And that’s all – Maria Agapova, a drug addict with the UFC.
Since I trained with Maria Agapova, I know a lot about her,” Moroz told the channel’s author, Mikhail Kraimer. – I never said anything bad about her, but just stayed away from this person, since a person leads such a way of life – very bad. Yes, in American Top Team they smoke weed a lot, a lot of things … Well, kind of relax. But Maria Agapova loves more seriously, and she herself did not even hide it – she came and told me. She’s such an open girl, but I’ll just listen and leave. And she even happened … Maybe it was not necessary to tell it to the camera … But what she said that she would break everything for me – she wanted to hurt me on purpose … Because I’m not in one of her supported, saying: ‘Maria, you should think: you are either an athlete or you are walking.’
Many tried to help her get out of the hole into which she kept climbing, climbing. 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 hall because she behaved inappropriately.
Agapova was defended by her manager, Alex Davis, in an interview with MMA Fighting, “Mariya went through some difficult moments. She was all alone [in the United States], but now she’s been through therapy, she’s much better and she’s already training for a fight. It had nothing to do with drugs.
Davis added, “Absolutely nothing. This is Mariya’s private life that we’re not going to make an issue to make her private life public. She came to the states from Kazakhstan, she went through some difficult moments, she had some crises, she got therapy, she’s doing very, very well now. She’s already training for a fight. There’s no drugs. It has nothing to do with it.”
Moroz has been scheduled for four fights since her March 2020 victory over Bueno Silva, but she has pulled out of all of those bouts, according to Tapology. She most recently withdrew from a fight against Luana Carolina scheduled for October 16, 2021. She also withdrew from fights against Manon Fiorot, Talia Santos and Montana De La Rosa in 2020 and 2021, per Tapology.
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