MMA is highly politicized in Russia. It’s not surprising when Russian president Vladimir Putin, a Judo 6th degree black belt and Sambo Master of Sport, is a huge supporter of MMA. Putin’s government recognized MMA as a state sanctioned amateur sport in 2012.

World MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko is the acting president of the Russian MMA Union. He is currently also a staff member of Russia’s Presidential Council on Physical Fitness & Sports (2012 – present), and a deputy at Belgorod Regional Duma (2010 – present).

Foreign Affairs writer Ilan Berman, in his article ‘Kremlin Fight Club: Russia’s Martial Arts Diplomacy,’ is implying that the Russian government is now using MMA as a political tool for foreign affairs.

UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman, as well as interim heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum, and Frank Mir were invited last month to attend an MMA event in Grozny, Chechnya (Russia) as guests of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

Chris Weidman in Russia

Ilan Berman has more on the political aspect of MMA in Chechnya and Russia:

In mid-March, however, Grozny saw a different sort of fighting, as it played host to some of the most recognizable faces in mixed martial arts, a sport that combines multiple disciplines, including boxing, wrestling, kickboxing, jujitsu, and submission grappling. Among them were Chris Weidman, the reigning middleweight champion of the sport’s premier franchise, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and heavyweight contenders Frank Mir and Fabricio Werdum. They had arrived for the inaugural fight show put on by the “Akhmat MMA” promotion, named for Akhmad Kadyrov, the former president of the Chechen Republic, who was assassinated in 2004. Not much is known about the company outside of Russia. But given its name—and the prominence of the sports personalities it managed to attract—it’s safe to assume that it operates with the knowledge and approval of the current president, Ramzan Kadyrov, Akhmad’s son—and, by extension, of the Kremlin itself.

 

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov with Fedor

Berman believes that Russia is using MMA as a PR tool to communicate with the West:

In this atmosphere, sports have once again emerged as a tool of diplomacy. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union used sports in general, and hockey in particular, to interact with the world despite its global isolation. (So formidable was the Soviet Union’s talent that the U.S. Olympic team’s victory over their Soviet counterparts in the medal-round men’s hockey game at the 1980 Winter Olympics became known in American popular culture as the “Miracle on Ice.”) This time, the language is mixed martial arts, the planet’s fastest-growing sport, and the message is clear: despite Western sanctions, Russia is still very much a global contender.