Olajide Olatunji, or KSI, has replaced yet another opponent on the August 27 DAZN PPV card.
'The Nightmare' was originally set to fight Alex Wassabi, however, Wassabi had to pull out of the fight due to a concussion and was replaced by British rapper Brandon Scott, popularly known as Swarmz.
Following a lot of backlash from fans for picking an 'easy' opponent in Scott, KSI decided to up the ante.
Instead of fighting just one opponent on the night, he decided to fight two opponents on the same night. With one opponent being Swarmz and the other being a professional boxer in Ivan Nikolov. However, following the announcement of his latest opponent, eagle-eyed fans noticed that the Bulgarian Nikolov had some 'racist' and 'Neo-Nazi' tattoos on his body.
Following the controversy, the Bulgarian has been replaced. Here's what Olajide Olatunji had to say about the situation:
"He's a white supremacist....Yes I'm still fighting two people but Ivan isn't my opponent anymore. He has been removed, he has been removed ladies and gentlemen. The matchmaker obviously got fired for allowing this to happen in the first place."
Olatunji's new opponent is Luis Alcaraz Pineda, an up-and-coming professional boxer with 2 wins and 5 losses to his name. Pineda is also much younger than Nikolov at just 23 years of age. Fans were complaining that the Bulgarian is too old for 'JJ' to fight so he found a younger opponent.
Take a look at the video below:
Ivan Nikolov responds to the allegations against him after being removed out of his fight against KSI
Ivan Nikolov has released an official statement regarding the allegations leveled at him.
The Bulgarian was removed from the DAZN PPV as 'JJ's' second opponent after pictures of his tattoo [that said 'White Power'] and other questionable pictures of Nikolov were circulated on the internet.
Taking to the internet over the controversy, the Bulgarian said:
"I have seen recent news regarding a tattoo referring to "White Power". This has absolutely no relevance to an outdated opinion, and simply refers to my own belief in my strength and power as an athlete."
He added:
"I have no criminal record, or involvement with the police, regarding any racial Issues. I now understand how the tattoo can be misinterpreted, but I passionately distance myself from any other meaning it may have other than representing my force as a competitor."
Take a look at tweet by Dexerto: