Bellator welterweight champion Yaroslav Amosov was able to retrieve his world title belt from the remains of his home which was bombed by Russian troops.
The fighter has taken time away from MMA to fight on the frontline in the war on Ukraine, where his family were the victims of a bombing in recent days. But his mother made sure to store his belt in a very safe place in the family home.
And in a video posted to Instagram, he showed himself descending into the bowels of his destroyed family home and finding the strap, which he won from Douglas Lima last summer. He was set to defend it next month in London against Michael 'Venom' Page, but opted out of the fight to remain in the war effort.
The video has been viewed over 317,000 times since being posted, and shows Amosov in full army garb retrieving the belt. It is captioned "A belt with a lot of history! Now I definitely won’t give it away. Mum hid it securely and it survived the bombing."
Amosov isn't the only Ukrainianian fighter to turn down a world title bout in order to stay at home; Vasily Lomachenko also opted not to fight George Kambosos jr for the unified lightweight boxing titles. That fight was set for June 5 in Melbourne, and will now see the Australian face Devin Haney.
Bellator confirmed last month that Amosov was to miss his fight with Page, set for May 13 at the OVO Arena Wembley in London. He is to be replaced with Logan Storley in an interim title fight as the promotion await the latest news from Ukraine.
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“Like the rest of the world, we’ve been shocked by the tragic events in Ukraine and the thoughts of everyone at BELLATOR MMA are with Yaroslav and all the Ukrainian people during this time,” said Bellator President Scott Coker at the time. We wish he and his family the best and look forward to seeing him return safely to happier times, both inside and out of the Bellator cage."
Amosov is undefeated in his 26 MMA fights and would have entered a fight with Page, the top contender in the promotion and 20-1 in his own right, as a massive favourite. The winner of Page's fight with Storley will likely face Amosov when he is able to return to training.
World heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk has also been involved in the war effort, but has left Ukraine to train for a title defence against Anthony Joshua set for Saudi Arabia this summer. That bout is expected to take place on June 25, and has been endorsed by Vitali Klitschko as a possible event that can draw attention to the country's situation.
