According to The Phuket News, the fighter was detained along with his brother Hasan, but the Russians were not directly involved in the attack, which was carried out by three Kazakh nationals who broke into the Italian’s villa last Sunday, tied him up, and beat the victim for several hours, extracting his safe deposit box code and credit card passwords.
After committing the crime, the three assailants flew to Dubai, taking with them $338,000 worth of stolen property. Rolex, Patek Philippe and Graff watches are listed in the report, along with a MacBook, two iPhone phones and sunglasses. In addition, 40 thousand euros were stolen from a safe and another 16 thousand euros were charged to a credit card.
The identities of the attackers have been established and it has also been confirmed that they went through immigration control at Phuket International Airport before flying to Dubai. The investigation suggests that the suspects have already returned to Kazakhstan.
Although the Italian did not recognize the perpetrators, he is familiar with the Askhabov brothers, the nature of their involvement in the incident and the reason for their arrest have not yet been disclosed.
Hussein Askhabov, who lost a unanimous decision to Jamall Emmers in his debut fight under the world’s strongest league banner, has another UFC fight scheduled for Oct. 7, in which he is scheduled to face Daniel Pineda.