Yaroslav Amosov: MMA champion reclaims world championship belt from Irpin
Bellator, the MMA promotion company that Amosov is signed to, announced last month that the 28-year-old retired his May 13 title fight against Michael Page as he is “actively defending his home country.”
In the video, Amosov climbs a ladder inside a house with a plastic bag, which he opens to reveal the belt.
“A belt with the big story,” he wrote in the caption. “Now I definitely won’t give it away. My mother hid it well and it survived the bombing.”
In the video, Amosov says he “got the belt for the second time” while laughing. “It’s in one piece and it’s saved,” he adds.
In a separate post on his Instagram profile, Amosov is pictured holding up his belt while surrounded by a group in military uniform.
At 26-0, Amosov currently holds the longest active unbeaten streak in all of MMA, according to Bellator, chasing Khabib Nurmagomedov’s all-time record of 29-0.
“Like the rest of the world, we are shocked by the tragic events in Ukraine and the thoughts of everyone at Bellator MMA are with Yaroslav and the entire people of Ukraine at this time,” Scott Coker, President of Bellator MMA, said in a statement.
“We wish him and his family the best and look forward to seeing him safely return to happier times, both inside and outside the Bellator cage.”
In a video posted to his Instagram account last month, Amosov said he would “like to talk about this ‘special operation,'” a reference to the euphemistic description used by Russian officials to describe the country’s invasion to describe Ukraine.
“She [Russia] You don’t save us, we defend ourselves from you,” Amosov added. “Russian troops have entered our territory and say they are ‘saving’. I wonder who did you save in that particular house?
“And that’s just the small part of it. Orphanages, civilians are also hit,” he continues while an explosion is heard in the background.
According to local authorities, around 50% of Irpin’s critical infrastructure was destroyed.
Irpin is now fully under Ukrainian control, but some Russian agents remain in the area. Local authorities organize search parties for remaining Russian soldiers.
Julia Presniakova contributed to this report.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/02/sport/yaroslav-amosov-recovers-belt-irpin-spt-intl/index.html Yaroslav Amosov: MMA champion reclaims world championship belt from Irpin
