Jeff Monson loses to Russian neo-Nazi, plans to retire in October

Following his most recent mixed martial arts defeat, Jeff Monson plans to finally hang up his gloves. The former UFC title contender and longtime…

By: Karim Zidan | 10 months ago
Jeff Monson loses to Russian neo-Nazi, plans to retire in October
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Following his most recent mixed martial arts defeat, Jeff Monson plans to finally hang up his gloves.

The former UFC title contender and longtime journeyman lost a unanimous decision to Vyacheslav Datsik, the Russian neo-Nazi fighter best known for his KO victory against former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski.

The three-round affair was part of the Ren-TV Fight Club event, which took place on Aug. 6 in Moscow, Russia.

While Monson held his own in the early stages of the bout, landing several takedowns and maintaining top position, Datsik was able to fend off the experienced veteran and eventually took control of the fight with several takedowns of his own.

The entire bout can be viewed below:

In the wake of his most recent loss, the 51-year-old Monson announced his intentions to retire in the coming months.

“I will fight again in October,” Monson, who holds a 61-26-2 professional record, told reporters following the fight on Saturday. “And after that I will retire. I promised to do this to my family.”

Datsik has a lengthy criminal history that includes assault, robbery, murder threats, raiding brothels to humiliate sex workers, and escaping from a psychiatric unit. He is also self-proclaimed white supremacist and has previously aligned himself with banned neo-Nazi groups.

Despite his history of violence and white supremacy, Datsik has been welcomed back into the Russian combat sports community and is expected to face convicted rapist Alexander Emelianenko in a future bout.

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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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