Jeff Monson

Oregon State Beavers

Jeffrey William Monson (born January 18, 1971) is an American-born Russian mixed martial artist, boxer, and submission grappler who competes primarily in the heavyweight division.

A professional competitor since 1997, he has competed for the UFC, Strikeforce, DREAM, PRIDE, M-1 Global, Impact FC, World Victory Road, and Cage Warriors.

In submission wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Monson is a two-time ADCC World Champion and a no-gi Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion.

Outside of fighting, Monson, an anarcho-communist, is known for his radical left-wing political views.

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).

After 14 straight MMA victories, Monson was signed by the UFC.

At UFC 57, Monson submitted Branden Lee Hinkle by north–south choke in the first round.

At UFC 59, he fought Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Marcio Cruz (ADCC veteran and longtime rival).

Monson won by decision after three rounds.

At UFC 61, Monson fought another Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt in Anthony Perosh, whom Monson defeated by TKO in the first round.

On November 18, 2006, at UFC 65, Monson fought Tim Sylvia for the UFC Heavyweight Championship.

He lost a five-round decision and would later ask to be released from his UFC contract in the hopes of facing then-PRIDE Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko at a BodogFIGHT event scheduled for March 2007.

However, negotiations fell through and the match did not happen during that time.

In the main event of PRIDE 34, on April 8, 2007, Monson defeated Kazuyuki Fujita via rear-naked choke submission at 6:37 of the opening round.

This was the final fight in the history of Pride Fighting Championships.

His next fight was scheduled to be against Chris Guillen on August 17, 2007, for the Global Fighting Championships' Heavyweight Championship, but the event was canceled after four of the eight scheduled bouts were removed from the card.

Monson lost against Pedro Rizzo at Art of War 3, which was held on September 1, 2007.

During the bout, Monson displayed a much improved level of striking, and kept the fight standing virtually the entire time.

On September 7, 2007, Monson won two matches in the FILA World Championship in Turkey, defeating France's Zoro Piere and England's Tom Blackledge by submission.

Monson was awarded the 275-pound gold medal when his final opponent Ramon Diaz suffered an injury and was forced to bow out.

Monson defeated former UFC Heavyweight Champion Ricco Rodriguez in the main event of the Mixed Fighting Alliance "There Will Be Blood" event on December 13, 2008.

He avenged a loss to Rodriguez from almost seven years prior.

On March 21, 2009, Monson won a controversial decision against Roy Nelson on Roy Jones Jr..'s hybrid boxing/MMA card "March Badness."

In 2018, Monson was elected to the city Duma of Krasnogorsk.

He is additionally the host of the multi-platform political and social commentary program Monson TV on Russian state-funded RT.

In February 2023, Monson began the process of renouncing his American citizenship.

Monson was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he also grew up for most of his childhood.

He attended Timberline High School and continued on as a Division I wrestler at Oregon State University and at the University of Illinois and was a Pac-10 champion for Oregon State.

He also competed at the senior level at USA Wrestling events for a number of years.

Monson received a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Illinois and a master's degree in psychology from the University of Minnesota Duluth, where he was the assistant coach of the wrestling team.

He worked as a mental health professional for five years, both in a crisis evaluation role for Cascade Mental Health in Lewis County, Washington, as well as a child and family counselor.

However, having major success in Abu Dhabi Combat Club events and at other mixed martial arts (MMA) shows, he decided to leave the mental health profession to devote himself full-time to MMA.

Monson is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and a two-time Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Champion.

He is an MMA fighter and has also had three professional boxing bouts.

His 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.