Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin arrived to Olimpiisky Sports Complex in Moscow to support the Russian athlete, many-time world mixed martial arts champion Fedor Emelianenko, who faces American Jeff Monson on Sunday.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, Russian female super middleweight world champion boxer Natalya Ragozina and two-time Grand Slam tennis winner Marat Safin also came to see the fight.
This current championship will see fighters from Russia’s M-1 Global club
This is not the first time Putin, a judo black belt and an honorary president of the European Judo Union, have attended Yemelyanenko fights. Putin attended the Mixed Fight European Championship in July 2010 in Russia’s southern resort city of Sochi together with Hollywood star and martial arts expert Jean-Claude Van Damme. In 2007, Putin and Van Damme watched the Mixed Fight Championship between teams from Russia and the United States in St. Petersburg’s Ledovy Dvorets Arena (Ice Palace Arena), where they sat together with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.