Have you ever been caught in a mess because of a bad translation? Well, Azamat Bekoev almost was, and it nearly cost him everything. The Russian middleweight, who speaks little to no English, found himself on the brink of disaster due to a language mix-up that could have seriously damaged his reputation. Thankfully, of all things, it was Google Translate that came to the rescue. What exactly went down in this near-catastrophic misunderstanding? Let’s break it down.

At UFC Des Moines, the Russian fighter stepped into the Octagon to face Ryan Loder. In a high-octane clash, the Vladikavkaz, the Russian, knocked out his opponent in the first round, securing the second victory of his UFC career. It also marked his second first-round knockout in the promotion. Azamat Bekoev came onto the radar of the fans, who wanted some smoke in the middleweight division. Taking to X, a fan asked a rather weird question to the Russian fighter.

In a playful manner, a fan asked, “You should M—-st, Joe Pfyer, brother.” Well, of course, we all know what this sentence means, but this was not the case for Bekoev, who was already struggling with a second language. Bekoev added, “I will do it for Mexico if Gastelum can’t.” Pyfer is preparing to face Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 316, which is scheduled to take place in June, and Bekoev appears to be in a mood to tango with him. After making that statement, the Russian realized his mistake and quickly followed up with another message to clear the air around the suspicious remark.

“Wait! I just Google translated this word. I don’t want to do this anymore,” wrote Bekoev with a laughing emoji, expressing his misunderstanding. Born and raised in Vladikavkaz, Russia, Bekoev is of Ossetian descent, an indigenous population in that region.  Bekoev speaks Ossetian, an Indo-Iranian language that is culturally relatively distant from Russian.

Well, thanks to Google Translate, Bekoev cleared up a hilarious misunderstanding that could have blown out of proportion. This mix-up, while minor, underlined how easily such things can snowball in a high-profile sport. Given that, the UFC seems to be happy with his performance, as other than a bonus at UFC Des Moines, Bekoev has received something else from the bossman as well.

Hunter Campbell sends a surprise gift to Azamat Bekoev

Apart from the headliner fighters, Azamat Bekoev and Quang Le were the only fighters from the prelims to receive a bonus check for their banger performance at UFC Des Moines. In a video shared on his Instagram, Bekoev captured the exact moment he was surprised with the Performance of the Night award.

Hunter Campbell and UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard called Bekoev aside to inform him that he had earned the Performance of the Night award. Caught off guard by the news, Bekoev felt compelled to offer a gift in return. He said, “No way! Thank you, thank you both. I’m really happy to call with you.” In the second half of the video, the Russian revealed that he had something to give either Campbell or Maynard in exchange for the bonus.

He held up what appeared to be a traditional dagger from his people and asked for their location so that he could give it to them.“I got something for you, can I see you? Where are you? Every real man have to have this. Just let me know where are you. See you soon.” Maynard then joked that he might have to make special arrangements to take this gift home.

Bekoev is certainly making waves in the middleweight division, but will he be able to navigate his way across the division’s top talents? What are your thoughts about him? State your opinion in the comments below.