SUKHUMI, Georgia — He is blind in one eye and has a bad hip that makes it painful to sit, never mind endure the kicks and punches that are an essential part of his job as a mixed martial arts fighter. He is also nearly twice the age of many of his rivals at the top of his harrowingly brutal profession.
Yet, as happens whenever Jeff Monson, a 45-year-old American known as “The Snowman,” visits a town in Russia — or, in this case, Abkhazia, one of the pro-Russian enclaves in the lands of the former Soviet Union — he was greeted with whoops of delight last month when he limped from the Dynamo Stadium locker room and clambered into a cage to battle a fit Russian in his 20s.
After just a few minutes, the referee declared the combat over and The …show more content…
Photo
Mr. Monson preparing for a fight in Sukhumi last month. Credit Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times
What makes this particular American so popular, however, is that he is in many ways a Russian, or at least a close approximation of the image that many Russians have of themselves as tough, unrelenting underdogs, righteous champions of the weak against the powerful and pure-hearted avengers of the crimes committed by the strong, notably the United States.
“In America, we think that they just drink vodka and want to take over the world,” Mr. Monson said in an interview before the fight in Sukhumi. “But it is America that wrecks countries like Iraq and then just walks away with total impunity.”
Born in Minnesota and raised in Washington State, he said he “grew up rooting for the U.S.A.” But after studying psychology at the University of Illinois and traveling overseas, he says, he “figured out that the world is a little different” from what he had believed. His view of his home country today is summed up by the tattoo on his leg: “Land of Hypocrisy,” it says over an upside-down Stars and …show more content…
Monson did not enter Russia’s pantheon of popular heroes until 2011, when, watched from ringside in Moscow by Vladimir V. Putin, then Russia’s prime minister, he got pummeled by the country’s best-known fighter, Fedor Emelianenko. The Russian shattered his leg and beat his face to a bloody pulp.
Impressed by Mr. Monson’s tenacity in the face of defeat, Mr. Putin telephoned him the next day and told him: “You have the Russian spirit. You never give
Yet, as happens whenever Jeff Monson, a 45-year-old American known as “The Snowman,” visits a town in Russia — or, in this case, Abkhazia, one of the pro-Russian enclaves in the lands of the former Soviet Union — he was greeted with whoops of delight last month when he limped from the Dynamo Stadium locker room and clambered into a cage to battle a fit Russian in his 20s.
After just a few minutes, the referee declared the combat over and The …show more content…
Photo
Mr. Monson preparing for a fight in Sukhumi last month. Credit Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times
What makes this particular American so popular, however, is that he is in many ways a Russian, or at least a close approximation of the image that many Russians have of themselves as tough, unrelenting underdogs, righteous champions of the weak against the powerful and pure-hearted avengers of the crimes committed by the strong, notably the United States.
“In America, we think that they just drink vodka and want to take over the world,” Mr. Monson said in an interview before the fight in Sukhumi. “But it is America that wrecks countries like Iraq and then just walks away with total impunity.”
Born in Minnesota and raised in Washington State, he said he “grew up rooting for the U.S.A.” But after studying psychology at the University of Illinois and traveling overseas, he says, he “figured out that the world is a little different” from what he had believed. His view of his home country today is summed up by the tattoo on his leg: “Land of Hypocrisy,” it says over an upside-down Stars and …show more content…
Monson did not enter Russia’s pantheon of popular heroes until 2011, when, watched from ringside in Moscow by Vladimir V. Putin, then Russia’s prime minister, he got pummeled by the country’s best-known fighter, Fedor Emelianenko. The Russian shattered his leg and beat his face to a bloody pulp.
Impressed by Mr. Monson’s tenacity in the face of defeat, Mr. Putin telephoned him the next day and told him: “You have the Russian spirit. You never give