After 2-Year Absence, Opponent Sought for Prospect Frodo Khasbulaev's WSOF Debut

It has been called one of the saddest stories in mixed martial arts.

That may be a bit of an overstatement, but not by a huge margin. Now, after two years in contractual and bureaucratic purgatory, Dagestani Russian featherweight Magomedrasul "Frodo" Khasbulaev finally has a chance to crawl up from between the cracks and resume his promising fighting career.

World Series of Fighting officials have confirmed (via MMAJunkie.com) that Khasbulaev has signed a multi-fight deal with the promotion. They are now seeking an opponent for Khasbulaev's WSOF debut at WSOF 21 on June 5 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

@timurvaliev_df looking forward for @MMAWorldSeries belt http://pic.twitter.com/QE2LfiqSKI

— Rizvan Magomedov (@Rizvan_RM) March 28, 2015

In 2013, Khasbulaev, who hails from the same region of the North Caucasus that spawned hot names like Khabib Nurmagomedov and Rustam Khabilov, defeated Mike Richman to win Bellator's featherweight tournament in the promotion's eighth season. Then 26 years old, Khasbulaev was 21-5 as a pro and in position to challenge then-champion Pat Curran for the featherweight title.

It was all looking good until Khasbulaev's visa was revoked under mysterious circumstances. The resulting complications were messy and murky and took two years to resolve.

As Khasbulaev and his camp attempted to re-secure his traveling privileges, Bellator—then under the leadership of Bjorn Rebney, who has since parted ways with the organization—evidently refused to let Khasbulaev out of his contract, a move that would have allowed him to stay busy competing for promotions in Russia while he waited for the United States to restore his visa.

Hey @ScottCoker, no fights more than year. heard u good person,understand me.Have feed my family.Please release me. @arielhelwani @MMAjunkie

— MRasul Khasbulaev (@FrodoMMA) August 15, 2014

In January, Bellator, under the new leadership of Scott Coker, finally released Khasbulaev, at which time details emerged that seemed to point to Bellator as the party responsible for discontinuing his visa, potentially because Khasbulaev refused to sign a big contract to stay with the promotion.

"They said his original petition was revoked by the petitioner, by Bellator," said Khasbulaev's current manager, Rizvan Magomedov in a January interview with MMAFighting.com. "That's what he was told by the consulate."

Bellator officials have denied the claim. 

It is, if nothing else, a strange situation. But with Khasbulaev now apparently cleared to fight under the WSOF banner, hopefully any problems are behind him and an innocent person can return to making an honest living as a fighter.

Rick Glenn was briefly named as Khasbulaev's first WSOF opponent, but an injury has sidelined the former WSOF featherweight champ. 

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