On September 9, 2018, American mixed martial arts fighter Jeff Monson became a government official in the Russian Federation. The former UFC title challenger, who was granted Russian citizenship by President Vladimir Putin less than four months earlier, was elected to a council of deputies in the city of Krasnogorsk, just outside Moscow.
Video footage posted on Monson’s social media accounts showed the fighter strolling up to a Krasnogorsk polling station dressed in a hockey jersey, where he cast his ballot with the help of a translator. Despite his previous affiliation with the Communist Party of Russia, Monson was listed as a candidate under the country’s ruling party, United Russia.