Then the moral-patriotic tuning fork in their performance would really sound exactly in tune with our anthem. Now, from some heralds, he rather gives out something like an international … Because there is such a person in Russia — Jeff Monson. Former MMA fighter, multiple world grappling champion, fought in the UFC for the heavyweight title. Not the greatest man in martial arts, of course, but a landmark for sure — both for sports and for the United States, whose citizenship he held until this year. And then — hop, and a Russian.
For a long time I was interested in the question — why do we go «there» at the peak of our capabilities, and they come to us — mainly from the fair? Still fresh in my memory is the legendary voyage of Gerard Depardieu, who loved Russia so passionately, well, he was so strongly attached to Russian birch trees, well, he was simply incredibly crazy from the view from his apartments in Grozny and Saransk that he fled from all this soon to Belgium. Why did he even come? Either he was hiding from high French taxes, or from something else, who will figure it out. But one thing is for sure — there is definitely no smell of patriotism here.It is not yet entirely clear the return to the home harbor of Steven Seagal. A man lived for himself, and then once — in his old age he became a famous Russian actor (in fairness, he still has roots), a member of the Foreign Ministry commission for relations with the United States and just his boyfriend. It's all unusual, but okay, let's take a closer look.And this is not to mention the overwhelming number of naturalized football players who have nothing to do with Russia, except for an almost guaranteed place in the national team. And here is a simple guy Jeff. Like, the same as the above, but not quite. Or rather, not at all. I spoke with him personally several times and observed from the outside, and unlike other «new Russians», nothing in him betrays luxury at all. In winter, after the Russian championship in Krasnoyarsk, they flew with him on the same plane. An ordinary black T-shirt, a sports bag, a tired look — a typical Russian shift worker is going home after a month of work. With only one difference: the entire airport is not photographed with shift workers for an hour, or even more.
Jeff defended the entire queue lined up for him, he did not refuse anyone. Then he went to boarding and sat on the last row by the toilet — the very places that literally everyone tries to avoid. No business class, no private jets. Everything is simple, with the people. Already on the ground, we briefly crossed paths with him in the corridor, asked him if he was tired from the road. «Yes, it's okay, I'm already used to it,» he said in Russian and wandered to the exit from the airport.
Until now, his motives are not very readable. He came, but not for an apartment in Grozny. He opens gyms, holds competitions for children, participates in public events in Krasnogorsk, where he has been a deputy since 2018. He travels to such distant cities of Russia that not all native Russians know their names. And he — an American by birth — knows.Monson is still not good friends with the Russian language, but he easily catches a connection with Russian people. And this is strange, because he looks a little like a Russian. A huge bald man in his 50s, a mountain of muscles, all in tattoos — we don’t look like that, although, perhaps, that’s how we feel. The recent news that Jeff decided to renounce American citizenship, which gives not only the opportunity to fly freely around the world, but also, in fact, enter the United States without a visa, completes the paradoxical circle (Jeff has children from previous marriages there, now he is married). on a Russian named Evgenia). Hardly anyone forces him to do it, but still it happens. A step that some of our patriots hesitate to take is taken by an ethnic American with a Russian passport — sounds strong, agree.
So it turns out that Jeff Monson is a real patriot of Russia, although purely formally he is — can't be named. Since we accept this fact and welcome Jeff here in every possible way, let's also stop condemning those of our citizens who decided to try their luck somewhere else. I doubt that when he left for Russia, they shouted as many nasty things at his back as we shout at the backs of our own guys and girls.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors
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