Ottman Azaitar

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.”^[10]

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.^[11] in On September 7, 2019, Ottman made his UFC debut at UFC 242 against Teemu Packalén.^[12] He won the fight via knockout in the first round.^[13][14] This fight earned him his first Performance of the Night award.^[15]

A bout between Azaitar and Khama Worthy was previously scheduled to take place at UFC 249.^[16] However, the event was cancelled in early April due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[17] The fight was then rescheduled to UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Sakai.^[18] In turn, the pair was removed from that event due to undisclosed reasons and moved to UFC Fight Night: Waterson vs. Hill^[19] Azaitar went on to win the fight via technical knockout in the first round.^[20][21] This fight earned him the Performance of the Night award.^[22]

On November 21, 2020, it was announced that Azaitar was scheduled to fight against Matt Frevola on January 24, 2021 at UFC 257.^[23][24] However, on the day of the weigh-ins, it was announced that Azaitar withdrew from the bout.^[25] 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.”^[26]

As the result of the breach in COVID-19 safety protocols, Azaitar was released from UFC on January 23, 2021.^[26] 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”.^[27]

After almost two years away from the octagon, the bout between Azaitar and Matt Frevola was rescheduled for November 12, 2022 at UFC 281.^[28] He lost the fight via knockout in the first round.^[29]

Azaitar faced Francisco Prado on July 15, 2023, at UFC Vegas 77.^[30] He lost the fight via TKO in the first round.^[31]

Azaitar was scheduled to face Darrius Flowers on November 18, 2023 at UFC Fight Night 232.^[32] The bout was cancelled for unknown reasons.^[33]

Azaitar faced Michael Johnson on December 14, 2024, at UFC on ESPN 63.^[34] He lost the fight by knockout in the second round, leading to his third consecutive loss by knockout.^[35]