Story By: Feza Uzay, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
Russian female MMA competitor Yana Kunitskaya has told fight fans to “mind your own business” after they claimed she fought her last bout while pregnant straight after announcing the happy news.
Kunitskaya, 31, a Russian mixed martial artist fighter in the bantamweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), announced that she is expecting a child on her Instagram page on 16th August.
Yana, who has 185,000 followers on Instagram, shared a picture of her showing off her baby bump with one hand and holding a watermelon with the other.
She wrote: “Did I eat too much watermelon? We wanted to keep it as a secret a little longer, but my body can’t, lol. I will be back in octagon (in) 2022.”
Yana also tagged her fiancee Thiago Santos, 37, a Brazilian MMA fighter currently competing in the UFC’s light heavyweight division, to tell him he did a good job.
The couple got engaged in December 2020, and they both have a child from previous relationships.
After Yana announced that the couple were expecting their first child together, some fans speculated that she was pregnant during her bout against Irene Aldana, which took place in Nevada in the USA on 10th July.
After the claim, Yana shared another picture of herself comparing her baby bump with her previous pregnancy snap and said: “Just to make it clear. I didn’t fight pregnant! On the left side, I am two months pregnant with my first son. On the right side, I am two months pregnant as well. It’s just how my body reacts. All of you who keep writing me, mind your own business.”
According to the news website MMA Yankie, Female fighters undergo pregnancy tests as part of a pre-fight medical examination in Nevada.
However, some of Yana’s fans were not satisfied with her explanation. Instagram user ‘Gingusranks’ wrote: “Wait, hold up, if it’s two months old now and you fought a month ago… Please help, I’m missing something?”
Netizen ‘Xdiamond.ax’ commented: “But… that still leaves you 3 or 4 weeks pregnant. So yes, you fought while pregnant.”
Yana is a former UFC featherweight contender. She is included in the top 10 female fighters in the weight category up to 65.6 kilogrammes (10.33 stone).
She became champion of Russia in taekwondo, national champion in Thai boxing, world champion in grappling, world champion in MMA Bushido FC, as well as winning multiple tournaments in hand-to-hand fighting, kickboxing, and taekwondo.