“You’re going to get me crucified” – UFC fighter reacts after his Albanian flag gets pulled by UFC moments before Atlantic City walkout

At UFC Atlantic City, featherweight fighter Dennis Buzukja achieved his first victory in the promotion with a powerful left hook that knocked out Connor Matthews. However, the 145-pounder was unable to represent his ancestral flag inside the octagon due to unfortunate circumstances.

Despite the promotion prohibiting him from displaying the Albanian flag, Buzukja, an American born on Staten Island, New York, proudly embraces his Albanian roots. Despite this, he joked about potential repercussions from his fellow Albanians during a backstage interview following his victory. He stated:

“It’s crazy. Right before I was going to walk out, they came and told me I can’t walk out with my flag because it had gold trim on it. And they were like, ‘Only the regular flag.’ You know it’s just gold trim, I didn’t understand. But I couldn’t walk out with it. I was like, ‘You’re going to get me crucified by the Albanian people.’”

Watch Dennis Buzukja’s discussion on the issue with the flag (0:47):

Buzukja will have the opportunity to continue representing Albania in the top MMA arena. He drew inspiration from Ilir Latifi, a former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight who shares Albanian heritage, and considers him one of the greatest Albanian MMA fighters.

The UFC flag ban has been lifted

Despite the reasons for the initial ban on fighters waving their flags inside the octagon being unclear, it is widely believed that it was related to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. Nevertheless, the ban has now been lifted.

In October of last year, the CEO of the promotion, Dana White, initially lifted the ban. However, as Dennis Buzukja recently discovered, the flags must adhere to accepted global format and cannot have any irregularities.