{"id":410,"date":"2023-02-16T18:44:12","date_gmt":"2023-02-16T19:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gatewayhealthsystems.com\/?p=410"},"modified":"2024-10-02T17:49:22","modified_gmt":"2024-10-02T17:49:22","slug":"moscow-based-mma-legend-gives-up-us-citizenship-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gatewayhealthsystems.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/16\/moscow-based-mma-legend-gives-up-us-citizenship-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Moscow-based MMA legend gives up US citizenship \u2013 media"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Jeff Monson became a Russian citizen in 2018 and was elected to political office in Moscow Region<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>American-born mixed martial arts star Jeff Monson plans to renounce his US citizenship due to his disagreement with Washington&rsquo;s foreign policy, he told TASS on Thursday. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;<em>I disagree with US policies because they interfere in the internal affairs of other countries and people suffer because of this<\/em>,&rdquo; said the legendary fighter, who was granted Russian citizenship in 2018.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;<em>Yes, I have children living in the United States, but I love Russia, I love the Russian people<\/em>,&rdquo; he told the state news outlet, adding, &ldquo;<em>I like everything here and I want to be the holder of a Russian passport only.<\/em>&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n        <span><strong>Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<figure>\n            <img src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"Monson has defended Russia\u2019s actions in Ukraine and Donbass. \u00a9 Kirill Kallinikov\" class=\"lazyload\" data-src=\"http:\/\/gatewayhealthsystems.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/6324724820302769670dae5d.jpg\"><figcaption><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/sport\/562937-jeff-monson-donbass-film\/\">Ex-UFC star discusses plans for Donbass film (VIDEO)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Only months after becoming a Russian citizen, Monson was elected as a deputy to the Council of Deputies of the Krasnogorsk district in Moscow Region. He remains a legislator for the region.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Nicknamed &lsquo;the Snowman&rsquo;, Monson has won 61 of his 90 fights. He is a former challenger for the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight title and a two-time ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship winner. In addition to MMA, he is also a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu world champion. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>An enthusiast of Russian and Soviet culture who has said he has a &ldquo;<em>Russian soul<\/em>,&rdquo; Monson was granted honorary citizenship of the breakaway Republic of Abkhazia in 2016 and received a passport in 2017 to what was then the self-declared Lugansk People&rsquo;s Republic. He recently filmed and edited a documentary about &ldquo;<em>the people of Donbass<\/em>&rdquo; and in September revealed he planned to open sports schools in the Donetsk People&rsquo;s Republic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jeff Monson became a Russian citizen in 2018 and was elected to political office in Moscow Region American-born<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gatewayhealthsystems.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gatewayhealthsystems.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gatewayhealthsystems.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gatewayhealthsystems.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gatewayhealthsystems.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/gatewayhealthsystems.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":416,"href":"http:\/\/gatewayhealthsystems.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410\/revisions\/416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gatewayhealthsystems.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gatewayhealthsystems.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gatewayhealthsystems.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gatewayhealthsystems.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}