Mixed martial arts athlete Yaroslav Amosov recovers his championship belt from the rubble in Irpin, Ukraine

Mixed martial arts fighter Yaroslav Amosov fights an uphill battle. The 28-year-old Ukrainian is on the front lines, defending his country from the Russian invasion. With an impressive record of 26 wins and zero losses, his sports career is currently on hiatus due to the war. A couple of days ago Amosov uploaded an image to his Instagram profile in which he can be seen holding up his championship belt wearing his military uniform and surrounded by other soldiers.

Dynamo , as he is also known, had entrusted his family with the belt that accredits him as the Bellator MMA world champion. After his mother took him to a bomb shelter in the city of Irpin, which has been hit hard by Russian troops, Amosov recovered the precious object.

On the social networks of Bellator and Scott Coker , its executive director, you can see the exact moment in which Yaroslav Amosov recovers the belt he won by beating the Brazilian, Douglas Lima, on June 11, 2021 and which he has defended since then.

I’m speechless – @YaroslavAmosov is a warrior pic.twitter.com/JaSs3ERIiM

— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) April 1, 2022

The fighter had his next fight scheduled for May 13 against Englishman Michael Page in London.

The effects of war on sport in Ukraine

Yaroslav Amosov’s story is not the only one. Last week, FIFA held the draw to define the groups for the 2022 Qatar World Cup. There we were reminded that there are some countries vying for the last tickets to participate in the most anticipated sporting event in the world. One of these countries is Ukraine who will play the UEFA playoff with Scotland in a match that has been postponed indefinitely due to the war. Sports activity has come to a complete halt in the country besieged by the Russian onslaught and high-performance athletes who, until a few weeks ago, competed in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and in the main international tournaments, have had to change their sports uniforms. by the military.

Professional athletes who have joined the army to defend their country include biathlete Dmytro Pidruchnyi, tennis player Serhiy Stakhovskiy, boxers Vasyl Lomanchenko, Oleksandr Usyk and brothers Vitali and Vladimir Klitschko, footballers Oleksandr Aliyev, Mykhailo Kopolovets, Oleh Luzhnyi and soccer coach Yuri Vernydub, among others.

What the Ukrainian Defense Minister indicates is that any man between the ages of 18 and 60 can be enlisted to defend his country from the Russian attack that has already lasted for 41 days.

Unfortunately some of the athletes who fought to defend their country have lost their lives. Among them are footballers Vitalii Saplyo, Dmytro Martynenko and 19-year-old biathlete Yevhen Malyshev.

It is estimated that this war has cost the lives of more than 13,000 people between military and civilians.