Yaroslav Amosov made the decision to stay in Ukraine to defend his home country, which meant he had to pull out of an upcoming Bellator title fight.
However, that doesn’t mean he’s forgotten about the belt.
On Friday, Bellator President Scott Coker shared a video on social media of Amosov retrieving his welterweight title from what appears to be a destroyed building in Ukraine. Amosov has a smile on his face as he climbs out of a hole in the ground and takes the belt out of a plastic bag.
Watch the clip above.
An accompanying caption includes a quote from Amosov:
“A belt with a lot of history! Now I won’t give it away, mom safely hid him and he survived the bombing”
Amosov (26-0) was scheduled for his first title defense against Michael “Venom” Page at Bellator London on May 13. However, with his country under attack from Russia, it was announced that Amosov would stay home to fight in the war and not compete at the London event. Logan Storley has stepped in as a replacement to fight Page for an interim title.
On March 13, Amosov provided an update on his situation, in which he criticized reports coming out of Russia that he claims are misrepresenting the war.
“Greetings to all,” Amosov said on Instagram. “Wanted to say — well, wanted to repeat — many people talked about this special operation. You’re not saving us. We are defending ourselves. Russian troops came to our territory and they talk about saving us? It’s very interesting to me, who did you save in this house? And this is just a fraction of it. It drops [a shell] on orphanages and regular houses. They shoot at civilians.
“Terrible things are happening. I don’t understand those people who don’t believe what is going on in our country, they watch their TV and think everything is okay here. They believe that you [the Russian people] are saving us. You’re not saving us, I don’t know how people of Ukraine will forgive Russia for what they did to our country. And this is not even the end.”
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