Kazakh UFC star Zhalgas Zhumagulov has sparked controversy online by revealing in a recent interview that he is a polygamist, and that he has six children with two separate wives.
Zhumagulov, a member of the UFC roster since the summer of 2020 following a successful stint with the Russia-based Fight Nights Global promotion, was unsuccessful in his most recent outing, losing by first round TKO to exciting Angolan Manel Kape – and if Zhumagulov is looking forward to returning home comforts to lick his wounds, he has more than one option.
"Yes, I have two wives – two wives and six children," Zhumagulov announced during an interview with the Let Me Interrupt You YouTube channel.
Polygamy, for the unaware, is the act of having more than one wife at the same time.
It is tolerated in some societies, although it is condemned by the Roman Catholic church – while some Muslim men can have up to four wives concurrently.
Polygamy was practiced in the United States by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints briefly in the mid-1800s before it was outlawed, and now remains illegal across all 50 states.
It is also illegal in Kazakhstan after it was banned by Soviet authorities around 100 years ago before being decriminalized in 1998.
Since then, it has become an increasingly common practice among the country's elite.
A recent poll noted by MMA outlet Bloody Elbow showed that up to 40% of male responders were in favor of polygamy.
In Zhumagulov's case, he says that having two wives presented challenges at first but he has now become "used to it".
"In principle, it’s normal," he said. "At first there were challenges but now everything is fine."
Among those challenges, he said, was determining which of his two wives to return to after a particularly tough fight in the Octagon, such as the one he experienced last weekend in Las Vegas.
"Well, where did I leave from?" he said. "If I left, for example, from my second wife, I go to the first. If I left the first, I go to the second. A day here, a day there."