Sports observers treat Kulitsky’s apology to Kadyrov as a PR step

Fighter Arthur Kulitsky has become well-known for his shocking behaviour, and he has recorded a video of apology to the leader of Chechnya for self-promotion, sports observers suggest. The Arthur Kulitsky’s words do not look pretentious, and his Instagram page does not need to be promoted, object the PR experts interviewed by the “Caucasian Knot”.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that in late August, Russian freestyle fighter Arthur Kulitsky, also known as Akab, recorded a video in which he criticized the “lawlessness” in Russia and the “Kadyrov’s subordinates.” On September 1, Arthur Kulitsky posted a video with the apologizes to Ramzan Kadyrov, the Russian authorities, and the people.

Yaroslav Stepanov, an editor of the Boxing/MMA section of the “Sport24” website, does not believe that the apologies were made under pressure. He suggests that the video, criticizing the Kadyrov’s subordinates, was recorded when the author was drunk, and the video with the apologies were filmed for a PR step.

Vadim Fursov, an MMA commentator on the “Match TV” Channel, notes that Arthur Kulitsky has always been known for his outrageous behaviour. “He is the most prominent representative of the pop MMA industry, so I do not exclude that the incident with the apologies and threats is a part of the image and work. The man once again has appeared in the media field and reminded of himself,” Vadim Fursov says.

In turn, Natalia Bulanova, a former PR officer of fighters Fyodor and Alexander Emelianenko, has categorically ruled out the version that Arthur Kulitsky recorded the video with the apologies for self-promotion. The expert believes that Arthur Kulitsky was “absolutely sincere.”

Alexander Likhtman, a founder of communication agencies “2L” and “Smartcomm”, the director of the communication group “Premikom”, also points to indirect signs that speak against the version of self-promotion. “Comments under the video [with the apologies] are disabled, and the post contains no hashtags,” Alexander Likhtman notes. 170,000 users have subscribed to the fighter’s Instagram page, and that fact suggests that Arthur Kulitsky does not need advertising, the expert points out.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 2, 2021 at 05:59 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.