You may not recognize the name Magomed Zaynukov, but we bet you’re familiar with him via his viral nom de guerre, “John Pork.”
Zainukov recently earned a UFC contract through Dana White’s Contender Series, and then introduced himself to the wider fanbase by beating the crap out of Dillon Danis cageside at UFC 322. His fighting style is exciting, and his real nickname “Chanko” is also catchy. But there’s no escaping “John Pork,” which came after people misheard Islam Makhachev saying “Chanko.”
Now it’s
all “John Pork.” Where many fans have to google what a fighter’s nickname is, in this case they’re googling what “John Pork’s” real name is. And because of that, the big fight archives like Sherdog and Tapology all list Zainukov as “John Pork.”
“I’ll talk to those guys so they can correct it, they’ve gone a bit too far.” Zainukov’s manager Rizvan Magomedov said in a recent interview with MMA Arena. But past that, Magomedov believes his client should embrace the name because it’s clearly not going anywhere.
“We need to take this calmly,” he said. “It’s understandable that it’s an unpleasant nickname, but I think the more attention Magomed puts on it or the more he tries, the less it’s going to change. It’s already permeated the fan base. And every time you try to deny it, you’ll probably just push it on yourself even more, hyping it up.”
“We need to approach this with a healthy dose of humor, and it won’t change anything in life.”
The name is controversial because Zainukov is Muslim and pork is haram, leading some to consider it a racist insult. But those cheering on “John Pork” are some of his biggest fans, and the origin of the name clearly came from a misunderstanding via his teammate and friend Makhachev, not some racist taunt.
“If anyone looked at the way [Islam] pronounced ‘Chanko,’ we all know ‘Chanko,’ it’s a familiar word to us,” Magomedov said. “But Americans might have misheard it a bit. And so the story went. But you see, every PR stunt has two sides. It served him well among Western audiences.”
Magomed Zainukov has already become one of the most hyped names coming out of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Dagestani power camp, and the “John Pork” name played a big part in that. If there’s an issue he’ll have to deal with before breaking through into true MMA stardom, it’s being potentially banned from the U.S. for sucker punching Dillon Danis.
