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Ottman Azaitar (born February 20, 1990) is a German mixed martial artist who currently competes in the Lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is the younger brother of UFC fighter Abu Azaitar.

Background

Ottman Azaitar was born to a Moroccan family in Cologne, Germany. Azaitar grew up in the Dellbrück district of Cologne until he moved with his family to Weiden. He attended the King Fahd Academy in Bonn until the age of 15 where he was raised with traditional Islamic upbringings. The controversial school, which shut down in 2017 of its own accord, was funded by the Saudi government and suspected of “attracting Islamists to Germany.” At the academy, all school subjects were taught exclusively in Arabic. This unusual school career initially had a negative impact on his German language skills, which became noticeable when he moved to the Hildegard of Bingen Gymnasium in Cologne. However, the initial language difficulties were overcome, and he left the high school after graduating in 2012 with a grade point average of 1.9. After graduating from high school, he took up studies in business administration.

He began his sports career as a six-year-old boy. Until the age of ten, he learned the techniques of jiu-jitsu. He then switched to boxing, Muay Thai and kickboxing, in which he also won several important titles until 2012. These include his title as champion in Muay Thai of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in 2011 and the following year as German champion in Muay Thai. At the same time, Azaitar joined the German national Muay Thai team and participated in the world championship in Saint Petersburg on May 19–28, 2012.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Starting his career in 2014, Ottman fought mainly in regional German promotions and then later joined Brave Combat Federation. While in BRAVE, in his third fight for the organization, at BRAVE CF 9 on November 17, 2017 in Bahrain, he won the BRAVE Combat Federation Lightweight Championship against Alejandro Martinez via 3rd round TKO. In his next fight, he fought Danijel Kokora in a welterweight non-title bout, picking up a 31-second KO. He was later stripped of the Lightweight Championship after refusing to defend it in a timely manner, with Mohammed Shahid, the President of Brave CF, releasing the following statement:

“Ottman Azaitar has had a great career with Brave Combat Federation, fighting a really good fight in Morocco which was not for the title. If you look at the lightweight division today, we have not had a title defense for nearly a year at this point. Of course, this is very unfair to the division as a whole, and we have to make a decision on that. We are confirming right now; November in Bahrain, we will have a lightweight title fight. And we’ve been working to make that fight happen for a while now. If we don't have that caliber of fighters, the one is willing to fight against the best in the world, that fighter doesn't have a place here at Brave, To make it official; we have stripped Ottman Azaitar of the lightweight title. We will have a match for the vacant title during the Brave International fight Week in November. The most important thing here, the message, is to make sure that we have athletes who actively want to fight the best in the world – especially as champion.”

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Azaitar signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in late 2018, becoming the second Moroccan UFC Fighter after his older brother Abu Azaitar. in On September 7, 2019, Ottman made his UFC debut at UFC 242 against Teemu Packalén. He won the fight via knockout in the first round. This fight earned him his first Performance of the Night award.

A bout between Azaitar and Khama Worthy was previously scheduled to take place at UFC 249. However, the event was cancelled in early April due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The fight was then rescheduled to UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Sakai. In turn, the pair was removed from that event due to undisclosed reasons and moved to UFC Fight Night: Waterson vs. Hill Azaitar went on to win the fight via technical knockout in the first round. This fight earned him the Performance of the Night award.

On November 21, 2020, it was announced that Azaitar was scheduled to fight against Matt Frevola on January 24, 2021 at UFC 257. However, on the day of the weigh-ins, it was announced that Azaitar withdrew from the bout. It was later announced that Ottman had broken safety protocols, and Dana White released the following statement on the matter:

“He and his team cut their wristbands off and got them to people on the outside, one guy, This guy got inside the bubble, went in through a room, shimmied down four balconies, went in through (Azaitar's) balcony, and dropped off a bag of we don't know what. Then he changed his clothes and went back outside of the bubble. We got everything on camera, we saw the whole thing, and how it all went down, pulled his fight and cut him.”

As the result of the breach in COVID-19 safety protocols, Azaitar was released from UFC on January 23, 2021. However, one month later, UFC decided to reverse the decision after taking a strong stand of their initial decision, UFC reinstated Azaitar stating to give Azaitar the “second chance”.

After almost two years away from the octagon, the bout between Azaitar and Matt Frevola was rescheduled for November 12, 2022 at UFC 281. He lost the fight via knockout in the first round.

Azaitar faced Francisco Prado on July 15, 2023, at UFC Vegas 77. He lost the fight via TKO in the first round.

Azaitar was scheduled to face Darrius Flowers on November 18, 2023 at UFC Fight Night 232. The bout was cancelled for unknown reasons.

Azaitar faced Michael Johnson on December 14, 2024, at UFC on ESPN 63. He lost the fight by knockout in the second round, leading to his third consecutive loss by knockout.

Championships and accomplishments

• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • Performance of the Night (Two time) vs. Teemu Packalén and Khama Worthy
• Brave Combat Federation
  • BRAVE Combat Federation Lightweight Championship (One time)

Mixed martial arts record

See also

• List of current UFC fighters
• List of male mixed martial artists

References

1. "Stats | UFC". ufcstats.com. Retrieved 2020-10-04.
2. ^ "Ottman Azaitar UFC". September 7, 2019. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
3. "Ottman Azaitar: Tapology Profile".
4. "Ottman Azaitar continues push to bring UFC to Africa". 17 March 2020.
5. Zidan, Karim (2018-07-19). "Feature: UFC's Abu Azaitar has disturbing criminal past". Bloody Elbow. Retrieved 2021-02-21.
6. Staff (2019-08-16). "Moroccan MMA Fighter Ottman Azaitar to Fight Teemu Packalen". Morocco World News. Retrieved 2019-08-16.
7. Breitenbach, Dagmar (2016-08-29). "Controversial Saudi school in Bonn to close". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 2016-08-30.
8. Markus Krücken, "Zwischen Vorlesung und Boxring : Köln: Ottman Azaitar ist Deutschlands stärkster Student", Express.de (in German), retrieved 2017-01-14
9. Ottman Azaitar: "Ich starte jetzt im MMA!" (in German), 2017-01-10, archived from the original on 2017-01-14, retrieved 2017-01-14
10. Mike Skytte (September 20, 2018). "Ottman Azaitar stripped of Brave CF Lightweight Championship". MMAsucka.
11. Azaitar, Ottman (November 2, 2018). "Ottman Azaitar - Proud to be the second Moroccan UFC Fighter in history". Facebook. Retrieved 2023-06-14.
12. Staff (2019-05-31). "Teemu Packalen meets newcomer Ottman Azaitar at UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2019-05-31.
13. Doherty, Dan (2019-09-07). "UFC 242 Results: Ottman Azaitar Lays Teemu Packalen Out Cold". Cageside Press. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
14. "CBS Sports: UFC 242 results, highlights: Khabib Nurmagomedov submits Dustin Poirier to retain lightweight title".
15. ^ Brian Mazique (2019-09-07). "UFC 242: Ottman Azaitar Scores Devastating One-Punch KO (VIDEO) Well Worth $50,000 Bonus". forbes.com. Retrieved 2024-12-14.
16. Newswire (2020-01-29). "Khama Worthy vs. Ottman Azaitar join UFC 249 lineup". mmafighting.com. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
17. Damon Martin (2020-04-09). "UFC 249, upcoming events postponed due to coronavirus pandemic, Dana White promises 'Fight Island' will proceed". mmafighting.com. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
18. Staff (2020-08-12). "Khama Worthy vs. Ottman Azaitar rescheduled for September 5th in Las Vegas". mmadna.nl. Retrieved 2020-08-12. (in Dutch)
19. Staff (2020-08-29). "Worthy vs. Azaitar and Simón vs. Kelleher will not party at UFC event on September 5". mmadna.nl. Retrieved 2020-08-30. (in Dutch)
20. Doherty, Dan (2020-09-12). "UFC Vegas 10 Results: Ottman Azaitar Rips Through Khama Worthy". Cageside Press. Retrieved 2020-09-13.
21. "UFC Fight Night: Ottman Azaitar makes statement; Ed Herman gets controversial win". 12 September 2020.
22. ^ Andrew Ravens (2020-09-12). "UFC on ESPN+ 35 Bonuses: Two Fighters Nab Performance Checks, FOTN Honors". mmanews. Retrieved 2020-09-13.
23. "Sportskeeda: Ottman Azaitar set to fight Matt Frivola in a lightweight bout".
24. Farah Hannoun and John Morgan (2020-11-19). "Ottman Azaitar vs. Matt Frevola joins UFC 257 lineup". mmajunkie.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
25. @MMAFighting (January 22, 2021). "Officials announced that Ottman Azaitar is out of his lightweight matchup with Matt Frevola #UFC257" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
26. ^ Farah Hannoun (2021-01-22). "UFC releases Ottman Azaitar for violating 'Fight Island' safety protocols". mmajunkie.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2021-01-22.
27. Marrocco, Steven (2021-02-20). "UFC reverses course, won't release Ottman Azaitar after he breached COVID-19 protocols on Fight Island". MMA Fighting. Retrieved 2021-02-20.
28. "Ottman Azaitar vs. Matt Frevola rebooked for UFC 281 – after 'bag of potatoes' incident canceled first fight". MMA Junkie. 2022-08-20. Retrieved 2022-11-11.
29. Jamie Theodosi (2022-11-12). "UFC 281: Matt Frevola Steamrolls Ottman Azaitar, Handing Him First Pro Loss". Cageside Press. Retrieved 2022-11-12.
30. "UFC title unification among 18 bouts announced". Bloody Elbow. 2023-05-15. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
31. Dewar, Val (2023-07-15). "UFC Vegas 77: Francisco Prado Stops Ottman Azaitar With Spinning Elbow and Ground Strikes". Cageside Press. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
32. Desk, ITN News (2023-08-16). "Kyung Ho Kang vs John Castaneda Reported for UFC Nov 18 Event". www.itnwwe.com. Retrieved 2023-08-17. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
33. Raghuwanshi, Mohit (2023-11-18). "UFC Fight Night: Allen vs Craig, November 18, 2023 - ITN WWE". www.itnwwe.com. Retrieved 2024-02-08.
34. Iskenderov, Parviz (2024-10-30). "Michael Johnson vs Ottman Azaitar among bouts confirmed for UFC Tampa fight card". FIGHTMAG. Retrieved 2024-10-30.
35. Alexander K. Lee (2024-12-14). "UFC Tampa video: Michael Johnson annihilates Ottman Azaitar with hellacious knockout punch". mmafighting.com. Retrieved 2024-12-14.
36. Jenness, Kirik (September 19, 2018). "Ottman Azaitar stripped of title, released by Brave". The Underground.
37. Sherdog.com. "Ottman Azaitar". Sherdog. Retrieved 2020-08-07.

External links

• Professional MMA record for Ottman Azaitar from Sherdog
• Ottman Azaitar at UFC

• 1990 births
• Living people
• German male mixed martial artists
• Lightweight mixed martial artists
• Mixed martial artists utilizing Muay Thai
• Mixed martial artists utilizing boxing
• German people of Moroccan descent
• Sportspeople of Moroccan descent
• German Muay Thai practitioners
• Sportspeople from Cologne
• Ultimate Fighting Championship male fighters
• Moroccan male mixed martial artists
• 21st-century German sportsmen
• 21st-century Moroccan sportsmen