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UFC’s Chris Curtis Retracts Accusations of Opponent Spying on his Training

'The Action Man' owns up to his mistake.

Mathew Riddle

Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images

Less than a week after accusing his January 2025 opponent, Roman Kopylov, of sending spies into his training camp, UFC middleweight Chris Curtis has retracted his allegations.

Curtis took to Instagram with the belief that Kopylov had sent two Russian fighters into his gym to spy on his training. "Scumbag move, Kopylov," He wrote.

Now, in another update on December 31, Curtis walked back his allegations due to a "truly random series of events" involving Johnny Walker and Bogdan Guskov.

"It turns out [Kopylov] isn't an evil Russian with spies," Curtis said. "So we have Johnny Walker at the gym and his opponent [Bogdan Guskov] is a guy we've trained with before. But because they're both there, Walker's opponent goes to Syndicate, the other big gym in Vegas, because they're fighting each other.

"... So his corners are the Russians who were at the gym... So they were at Xtreme, and he [Guskov] got in town [and they vanished]... And Kopylov came in town at around the same time [and happened to run into them at the UFC PI and took pictures together]. ... I talked to Kopylov earlier today... He's not actually evil... And to the other Russians I apologize."

Curtis and Kopylov get the opportunity to squash any beef on the main card of UFC Vegas 101 on January 11.

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Mathew Riddle
MATHEW RIDDLE

Mathew is a UK-based combat sports journalist, graphic designer, and SEO expert with over five years of experience in digital marketing and a dedicated four-year track record in MMA journalism. He joined MMAKO in 2023. Mathew's insights have been featured on The Fight Fanatic, Heavy on UFC, Fansided, and Sportskeeda. Reach him at mr@thefightfanatic.com.

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