Eduard Vartanyan attacked backstage before fight by Zaur Gadzhiev associates

Eduard Vartanyan was allegedly attacked in the backstage area before his bout with Uzair, struck in the back of the head by friends of Zaur Gadzhiev at ACA 202 in St. Petersburg. The post notes that while ACA has historically been very strict about media access to locker rooms and backstage areas, fighters not competing on the card were apparently allowed in those areas with friends, which enabled the incident. The author criticizes this inconsistency, noting that credentialed media who have covered ACA for years are often denied access, while fighters outside the card can roam freely. The post mentions that access policies have recently improved somewhat, though not perfectly. This incident highlights ongoing security and access control issues at ACA events.