This 52-year-old fighter said in an interview TASS.
“I handed in my American passport to the US consulate in Istanbul,” Monson was quoted as saying. “I renounced my US citizenship because of the politics of this country. All my thoughts and my future are connected only with Russia. Now I am no longer an American, I am only a Russian.”
Minnesota native Jeff Monson is a multiple world champion in grappling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu and has had 88 professional mixed martial arts fights, winning 60 of them.
Last year, the “Snowman” held a professional MMA fight in Khabarovsk, which ended without an announcement of the result, and also suffered defeats in a fist fight against Alexander Emelianenko, and an unprofessional MMA fight against Vyacheslav Datsik.
At one time, Monson played in such organizations as M-1 Global, Strikeforce and UFC, and shared the cage with Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin, Pedro Hizzo, Tim Sylvia, Josh Barnett, Sergei Kharitonov, Alexei Oleinik, Daniel Cormier, Alexander and Fedor Emelianenko.