Bellator champion justifies decision to leave Ukraine war to defend belt

Leaving everything and returning to defend your country is not something that always happens. However, going the other way around can be just as difficult. That’s what happens in the life of Yaroslav Amosov (26-0), who returns to the cage on the Bellator 291 card, scheduled for next Saturday (25), in Dublin, Ireland. The Ukrainian welterweight champion (up to 77kg), returns to fight for the unification of the belt of his category after a hard period fighting in the war between his nation against Russia.

The Bellator champion told, in an interview with the American website “MMA Junkie”, the determining factors that made him leave the conflict zone, in which he acted in the front line of the Ukrainian army, so that he could compete professionally again, now facing Logan Storley (14-1), owner of the interim welterweight belt.

“Once the central part of Ukraine was liberated, my city became free from Russians, I started to get a lot of pressure from my family, my friends and my loved ones. They said that since our area immediately was free, it would be time for me to get back into the fight and use my notoriety and my platform to be the voice of what’s going on over there instead of physically having my boots on the ground. It wasn’t an easy decision. There was a lot of pressure. from my family and my friends, but eventually I decided that’s what I was going to do”, explained the Bellator welterweight champion.

The Ukrainian pondered that, although the momentary situation in his homeland is, to a certain extent, under control, the whole country still suffers from the consequences of the war, and what worries him most are the Russian missiles: “Russia fired them all over the Ukraine. At any time, they can fall anywhere. There is always danger,” he said.

Finally, Yaroslav Amosov said that the situation experienced by him and all his people serves as an extra motivation for the belt defense. Currently 29 years old, the Ukrainian is undefeated in his career in MMA, with 26 wins, and since arriving at Bellator, in 2018, he has already won seven.

“It’s very motivating, now more than ever, to know what it means to my people and my fans. It even helped me in training. There were times in training when I was feeling down, but then I realized that some of my friends are at that moment sitting in the trenches, receiving shots and missiles flying everywhere. Compared to them, my mission is easy. It helped and motivated me in training”, he concluded.