MMA fighter Zaur Ismailov, convicted over 'sparring' with a monument, sent back into custody

The athlete, who received a year and a half of forced labor for desecrating a monument to EMERCOM veterans in Moscow, was taken into custody in October over an alleged evasion of serving his sentence. The defense has appealed the decision.

Aziz KarimovFirst published on tafs uz 5 November 2026 at 10:522 min read

The key facts

Zaur Ismailov was arrested in October as a convict who had gone into hiding to evade forced labor
The sentence — 18 months of forced labor with a 10% deduction from earnings — was handed down in March 2026
The fighter's defense has appealed the arrest; details of the detention have not been disclosed

Convicted MMA fighter back in custody

Mixed martial arts fighter Zaur Ismailov, convicted of desecrating a monument to EMERCOM veterans in Moscow, has again ended up in a pre-trial detention center. This time the grounds were an alleged refusal to serve his sentence: according to RIA Novosti, citing court materials, the athlete was taken into custody for evading the forced labor imposed by the verdict. In October, the court ordered him detained as a convict who had 'gone into hiding to evade a punishment not involving imprisonment.' His defense appealed the decision, but details of the detention have not been disclosed.

How the case developed

The story began in December 2025, when Ismailov posted a training video on social media: the footage showed him practicing strikes on one of the figures of the 'Veterans of EMERCOM of Russia' monument on Kremenchugskaya Street in the Fili-Davydkovo district. The video caused a public outcry and drew the attention of law enforcement. In March 2026, the Dorogomilovsky Court found the fighter guilty of desecrating the monument and sentenced him to a year and a half of forced labor, ordering that ten percent of his earnings be deducted to the state. During the proceedings, the athlete fully admitted his guilt and expressed remorse; before the verdict, he had also been held in a pre-trial detention center.

What changes now

The key difference between the new situation and the previous one is the grounds for detention. Previously, the fighter was in the pre-trial detention center as part of the investigation and court proceedings; now the arrest is connected with the execution of an already handed-down verdict: the court is considering the question of his further detention in connection with the alleged evasion of forced labor. The outcome of the defense's appeal and the future fate of the imposed sentence are not disclosed in the publication.