Video Game Mistakenly Has Muslim UFC Fighter Making Christian Cross Sign in After Fight Celebration
Electronic Arts (EA) issued an apology and is making adjustments to their new UFC 2 game after fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov called them out for making his character a Christian.
On Twitter, Nurmagomedov said, "I'm a MUSLIM and not Baptized. Please @EASPORTSUFC edit my after fight celebration. I have a lot of Muslim fans and you have to respect it."
The "after fight celebration" the Russian mixed martial artist talked about was the Catholic gesture of the sign of the cross.The gesture consists of using your right hand, to touch your forehead at the mention of the Father, the lower middle of your chest at the mention of the Son; and the left shoulder on the word "Holy" and the right shoulder on the word "Spirit."
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EA responded to Nurmagomedov on his Instagram page.
"Hello Khabib. Just wanted to reach out and let you know that we've seen your concern in regards to your after fight celebration. We've informed our development team about this issue and will change that celebration in our next update. Apologies if this has offended you in anyway," they wrote.
In his post, Nurmagomedov extended some grace toward EA by pointing out that just like every one, the company is capable of making mistakes. He also firmly stated that he has nothing against Christians but he hopes EA learns from its mistake so it doesn't happen again in the future.
"I have nothing against Christians. Every man in this life has his own way, and my way is Islam," he wrote on the caption of EA's response. "Developers of the game made mistake. Let's be honest, every human being made mistakes, and I'm not holding a grudge. They apologized and promised to fix it. Hopefully, next time they wouldn't make mistakes like this, and take account everybody's religion."
Nurmagomedov is seemingly a devout Muslim as seen in his recent decision to skip a fight due to Ramadan. Nurmagomedov real-life record is 22-0-0 and is ranked No. 2 in the Lightweight division.
For more on EA Sports UFC 2, check out GameSpot's review.
