Over the past years, Jeff Monson has spent a lot of time in Russia, and has declared “I have a Russian soul” and applied for citizenship.
He officially became a Russian citizen in November. He had his first fight since becoming a citizen of Russia and it was a first round knockout at the hands of Donald Njatah Nua.
Monson is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and a two-time Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Champion. He is a mixed martial arts fighter and has had three professional boxing bouts. His professional boxing record is two wins and one draw.
Monson is considered to be one of the world’s top submission grapplers. He is a multiple event winner at NAGA, Grapplers Quest and FILA, among other submission tournaments. He is nicknamed “The Snowman” for his performance at the 1999 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championship. The Brazilian fighters at the tournament gave him the nickname because he came in as an unknown, but beat four Brazilians in a row to win the 88–98 kilogram weight class. As he went along in the tournament and continued to beat his opponents, they said he was like a snowball (white, compact, rolling and getting bigger and stronger as the tournament went on).
