Amar Suloev

Amar Suloev (January 7th, 1976 – June 27th, 2016) was born into a Yazidi family and was a retired Armenian mixed martial artist with a record of 24–7–0. He was a kickboxer/wrestler who last fought Jacek Buczko at M-1 Challenge, where he won by a TKO (kick and punches). Suloev had 24 wins on his record with 15 of them in the first round. After his mixed martial arts career, Suloev became involved in the world of organized crime, as a contract killer and was arrested. He died of stage 4 stomach cancer in June 2016.

Personal Life

He was charged of being a part of 2 assassinations and a third attempt in which a driver was killed. However, he has never been convicted of such things and there were serious problems with the state's case against him. One killer testified that Suloev had been the get away driver. But he did not match eyewitness descriptions of the driver (this in the failed assassination. Even more, his neighbor testified to meeting him on the morning of the attempt at his house at 9:05am. The attempt occurred at about 9am hundreds of kilometers away. His trial had been suspended and he'd been released on bail following his stage 4 stomach cancer diagnoses and he'd been released on bail. That's important, as there was no open case against him. Two things. Innocent until proven guilty. Serious flaws in the state's case against him. He had a good chance to be acquitted had his trial continued.

Mixed martal arts career

At UFC 35 Suloev came to fight in the premier MMA organization of the United States where he faced top light heavyweight Chuck Liddell. The fight went to decision, where Liddell was awarded the win on points. The fight was intense and Suloev demonstrated his level of skill with kickboxing as he avoided the trademark power shots of the feared American fighter. Despite the loss Amar was one of only seven fighters to take Liddell to decision. The UFC invited him back at UFC 37 to fight Phil Baroni, where a controversial knee by Suloev was landed while Baroni was on his knees getting up, shortly after the referee stood them up, Baroni landed a flurry of punches which stopped Suloev.

After a brief stint in the UFC, Suloev returned to M-1 Global for a few fights before jumping to the top Japanese MMA promotion Pride Fighting Championships. His first fight in Pride came against top Brazilian Jiu Jitsu ace Dean Lister, which ended in a decision win for Amar. His next fight came against another highly regarded jiu jitsu fighter Paulo Filho, however in this fight despite some aggression and relative success in striking on the feet, Filho proved to be the far better grappler, as he got a submission victory. Top Brazilian Top Team fighter, Murilo Bustamante faced Suloev in his next Pride appearance, and on this occasion Suloev was able to largely keep the fight standing, where his strong kickboxing background guided him to a victory. In his final Pride fight Denis Kang was his opponent, and much like the fight against Filho, Suloev was unsuccessful in avoiding the submission once the fight reached the canvas.