MMA fighter arrested in St. Petersburg for alleged murder in Ukraine

Vadim Olenchik, a Ukrainian MMA champion, was detained in St. Petersburg for the alleged murder of a man in Kyiv, Ukraine. Interpol officers arrested…

By: Karim Zidan | 5 years ago
MMA fighter arrested in St. Petersburg for alleged murder in Ukraine
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Vadim Olenchik, a Ukrainian MMA champion, was detained in St. Petersburg for the alleged murder of a man in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Interpol officers arrested Olenchik on January 30 on charges of murder and vehicle theft. The Ukrainian fighter had been placed on the international wanted list since 2017 and will be extradited back to Ukraine to face trial.

”By a resolution of the Solomenskiy district court in Kiev on January 31, the prisoner chose a preventive measure in the form of detention” said Nadezhda Maksimets, a spokesperson at the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office.”Now after deciding on his detention, we prepare documents for his extradition to Ukraine.”

According to reports, Olenchik strangled a Russian man with a towel at a nightclub in Kyiv and robbed him of his money, telephone, and vehicle. According to Maksimets, “The deceased worked as the CFO of a pharmaceutical company. When he did not come to work, his colleagues went to his home, broke the door and found the body.”

Olenchik held a 3-0 amateur MMA record, which included a tournament victory at the 2017 Bukovel Cup. He is also a five-time Ukrainian champion in Thai boxing and also took part in kickboxing tournaments.

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About the author
Karim Zidan
Karim Zidan

Karim Zidan is a investigative reporter and feature writer focusing on the intersection of sports and politics. He has written for BloodyElbow since 2014 and has served as an associate editor since 2016. He also writes for The New York Times and The Guardian. Karim has been invited to speak about his work at numerous universities, including Princeton, and was a panelist at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival and the Oslo Freedom Forum. He also participated in the United Nations counter-terrorism conference in 2021. His reporting on Ramzan Kadyrov’s involvement in MMA, much of which was done for Bloody Elbow, has led to numerous award nominations, and was the basis of an award-winning HBO Real Sports documentary.

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