Former UFC fighter Dmitriy Sosnovskiy will serve jail time for kidnapping and extorting a Moscow businessman
Dmitriy Sosnovskiy—an undefeated former UFC heavyweight—has been sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in a maximum security prison after being found guilty of kidnapping and extorting a businessman from Moscow, Russia.
Sosnovskiy, 31, was arrested along with four other suspects
on charges of abduction and extortion in September 2019. The group reportedly
kidnapped the businessman by forcing him into an unmarked car before taking him
to an office where they threatened to murder him if he did not pay them 300,000
rubles (approx. $3800). When they failed to intimidate the businessman, one of
the gang members reportedly attempted to choke the victim unconscious.
“Having received a refusal from the abducted man to fulfill
their illegal demands, one of the accused grabbed the victim’s neck with his
hands – blocking his access to oxygen, which made him lose consciousness,” the
prosecutor’s office stated in the press release.
The businessman reportedly escaped when the five kidnappers
left the room. He then went to the police, which led to their eventual arrest.
Sosnovskiy compiled an 11-0 undefeated record between
2013-18m most of which ended by knockout or submission. Following a stint on
the Russian scene, Sosnovskiy signed with the UFC in 2016 and eventually made
his debut in 2018, where he defeated Mark Godbeer by submission at a UFC event
in London.
Choosing not to comment at the time, Sosnovskiy’s training
partner and fellow UFC heavyweight, Alexey Oleinik, described himself as
“frustrated” and “disappointed that such a situation has occurred.”
This is not the first time that a Russian MMA fighter has
been jailed for crimes of a serious nature. In 2018, Anar Allakhveranov was
sentenced to 18 years after killing a champion power-lifter during a street
fight. Later that year, several MMA fighter tied to oligarch Ziyavudin
Magomedov’s Summa Group were arrested for attempting to murder fellow fighter
Shamil Kuramagomedov. Most notably, Alexander Emelianenko was handed a 4.5 year
jail sentence for sexual assault and kidnapping.
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