Russian MMA fighter Valery Myasnikov in an interview with , he told how he sold his equipment after a bare-knuckle fight with Daud Kelbikhanov.
Myasnikov moved from mixed martial arts to hand-to-hand combat. During a fight at a tournament in Yekaterinburg, the 32-year-old fighter knocked out his opponent with a blow to the liver in the first round. After the fight, the athlete posted a photo of the equipment on his account and announced an auction with the condition that all proceeds would be donated to charity. On December 30, Myasnikov wrote in his story that he transferred the profits to a children’s hospice and a shelter for homeless animals.
“This isn’t the first time you’ve done this, is it?
— The first time I decided to do this was after the fight with René Pessoa (December 4, 2021), usually I just tried to help shelters and a few other organizations on my own, but then I thought: “I don’t use this anyway, I don’t have any more equipment, but it looks like an event happened, I won, and suddenly I will be able to attract someone. Even if I collect 2,500, I will add it to mine and transfer it. But people started bargaining in the comments, some businessmen got involved and started raising prices. Finally, one of them said: “I don’t even need a T-shirt, I’ll just support a good cause.” » Finally, as a sign of gratitude, I still met the person, gave him gloves and some other equipment… And for the first time, we collected a hundred in total. There were people who threw away 500 or 1,000 rubles. Then I did the same thing after the fight at Fight Nights (January 2023), we raised 60,000. I was still a little upset that the second time it turned out to be less. And now there seemed to be a loud fight going on, I thought I should try again. And people got very actively involved. As a result, I sold the equipment for one hundred thousand rubles. And another 60 were sent by people who wanted to join us.
— You have 15,000 subscribers, do you know everyone who leaves comments with a certain amount?
— No, I don’t know all the people who write. It was even surprising for me, because maybe people don’t know me very well. I think a lot of people saw it with a friend of theirs. Additionally, it seems to me that you have to have a certain form of trust to send money to someone you don’t know. And what’s more, I don’t write right away who I plan to send it to. Because it’s always the hardest choice.
— Do you personally know the person who paid for the equipment?
– Yes, he’s my friend. To be honest, I don’t know exactly what kind of business he has. There they exchanged between 50, 60 and 80 thousand, but in the end he exceeded the last amount by offering a hundred. At the same time, it was good that some people wrote to me: “I will continue to negotiate, but if I cannot win, I will still transfer something.”
— Do you send blood-stained equipment or do you wash it?
— I wash it, of course, before sending it. Funny question…I mean, I’m still sweating in it, I don’t think anyone will like it, even though the T-shirt is basically new. But shorts can smell. And, I’m not kidding, a strange guy wrote to me one day and asked me to send him some things that hadn’t been washed after training. And he was willing to pay for it. I was still thinking about him, like, this is your release, where are you?
— You transferred money to the famous children’s hospice “House with a Lighthouse”. Why this choice ?
— My wife works there as a volunteer, she is a psychologist, psychotherapist and came into contact with this organization. I have participated in online charity races several times. I ran there especially for this charitable foundation.
— Have you communicated with any of the children?
– No. I have only contacted the coordinators, but I would happily come and chat if the opportunity arises.
— Don’t you have a regular and significant salary, like some MMA fighters?
— 100,000 rubles is a big sum for me, yes, if that is the question. I don’t get a big sponsorship salary from anyone. To understand, when I did such an auction for the first time, I received a bonus ($50,000) for the fight, but the bonus could have been paid either after the New Year or closer, and the pandemic had just passed, I was in huge debt, I had a mortgage. But I still carried out this campaign and transferred 100,000 people, although I didn’t even have time to celebrate the New Year. I can honestly say that I translated everything. It seems to me that money is important, but I understand that not everything is measured only by it, ”Myasnikov told .
Live broadcasts of mixed martial arts tournaments can be seen on and Match! Fighter”, as well as on the sites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.
Source : MatchTV

I am Ashley Ortiz and I am a professional journalist working for Athletistic. My specialty is in sports journalism, particularly boxing. I have written articles for some of the most renowned publications on the subject, and my work has been featured across both print and digital media platforms.