The FF-Files: It’s a Raid

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“Hideaway, I’ve been locked up for seven days. I’m never coming out. Wide awake, I feel my heart accelerate. I’m never coming down.” – Ozzy Osbourne featuring Post Malone, “It’s a Raid”

Licenses. Regulation. Certifications. Paperwork proving that you as an organizer are permitted by your government, as well as your governing federation for those that apply, to run combat sports events. Not every country has a commission to turn to for local athletes to seek guidance and regional organizations to have a framework for operation. Russia does, and it can be a stickler for the rules…sometimes.

Every so often, we at Sherdog Fight Finder receive word that a league has been busted. Whether due to someone informing on the promotion, the law enforcement agencies conducting sweeps or a jaded fighter spouting off, ever so rarely an MMA league is raided by the police. These instances below all occurred in Russia, so make of that what you will. To quote the inimitable Han Solo, “Even I get boarded sometimes. Did you think I had a choice?”


What you see above is purportedly the filming of a police raid at the Sexton Bike Center in Moscow. Top Fight, already on our radar for plenty of shady business not limited to an agreement with Jeff Monson and some heavyweight from Tajikistan to engage in a “show fight” where “the punches were not real.” Words directly from an official, which shined a light on this league that would far prefer to remain in the darkness. For that match in particular, you can use your eyes to see.

Not great, right? Who knew at the age of 53, “The Snowman”—now an elected member of the Russian government—would not put on his career-best performance atop a league that claimed he was a “showman” involved in a “demonstration fight.” Shocking that it took as long as it did for authorities to hone in on them.

The straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back was more like a hay bale, in that it was not a single occurrence but rather a few blended together to make it all unmanageable. At Top Fight Global 5, which purportedly took place on Sept. 14 at the same Sexton Bike Center—a biker bar and night club—as before, the geniuses in the Top Fight think tank believed that hauling in a bunch of foreign-born pro debutants would serve their local fighters well as fall guys. All the while, nary a license was to be found, and rumors of corruption and fight fixing loomed large. Perhaps in hope of sneaking these young athletes under the radar to take a fall and slipping them out with a little cash before anyone got wise, they thought they were the smartest guys in room. They would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for those meddling cops.

How did the submitter respond when we did not let this illicit event through the door, and that he may have left out some crucial information? He tried to finger, of all people, the Central Asian editor for Tapology, claiming that, and we quote, “he adds fights to tapology for money. and so he made this fake fight when the fighter wasn’t fighting. He deposited it for the money. then tapology turned this fight into a non-interactive [note: we believe he meant exhibition] one.” His words, not ours.


Like what you saw from the fuzzy raid video above? Hype FC, another quasi-legit league on the rocks for shady business and non-serious matchmaking, said, “hold my beer.” Or, vodka. And then vamoosed.

“Security forces disrupted the Hype FC pop-MMA tournament in Moscow,” the top line for a social media post read, “and its organizer was taken away by FSB officers.” As it turned out, the organizer, Magomed Nosaev—who goes by the name Alfredo Auditore?—was wanted for drug trafficking, illegal casino operation/advertising and some allegations of fight manipulation. The announcer did not even get through his introductory spiel before a suited man signaled it was all off, and the thousands in attendance departed the scene amidst a veritable army of black-clad armed security.

Like Top Fight from above, the police involvement made all involved scatter like rats fleeing a sinking ship. To be fair, their proverbial ship was indeed underwater, with most expecting it to never to be seen from again until James Cameron filmed an undersea exploration documentary in 2036. Those doubters would be wrong, as under new ownership, Hype FC has reactivated its social media this year, resurfacing inside of a clandestine warehouse located ???—some say Armenia, others swear it remains in Russia—with a ringed, octagonal fighting surface with this level of goober competing. And a reality show currently “involving” Arman Tsarukyan and Khamzat Chimaev, but we won’t go there.


It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to see these two videos stacked side-by-side weren’t held in the same place. Why does this matter? Notorious defunct Russian organization Colosseum MMA, known unfavorably around the community for obvious squash matches, tune-up fights and even secret bouts where the victor was ashamed he fought there and tried to hide it, had a real slip-up. They tried to pass off the same event, Colosseum MMA 46, twice, and even dared to say the cards containing these two videos were at the same venue.

The reason for any confusion, according to the organizer, was simple and understandable. The police shut down the first card halfway through, so they packed up and went home to stage up a show in a nearby gym the next day. Only, that wasn’t entirely true. Colosseum MMA 46: Day 2, as they would come to call it, did not happen the day later, as they had claimed. It was over a month later, and again, obviously somewhere else.

Why was this event totally on the up-and-up raided? A “misunderstanding.” This organizer claimed that, in a defense that is high comedy given what we now know, the head of Hardcore MMA lashed out and called 1-1-2 when some Hardcore fighters stopped over to pick up easy wins in the confines of Colosseum. Management disputes aside, Hardcore crying foul on anyone else, given the litany of issues that resulted in their own demise, may be a better joke than the performances of a few infamous influencers in the boxing ring recently. The OMON, or Special Purpose Mobile Unit, arrived and put the kibosh on the works. Colosseum ran a few more times but was never the same, only to disintegrate in 2024.

Our stance? If you can’t run a fight league legitimately enough to not get shut down by riot police while the card is actually happening, chances are you aren’t running a clean show.

Got a tip on an illegally operated fight promotion aching to be raided by the cops? Send your anonymous—or not so anonymous—tip to [email protected].