Thread by @ZidanSports

Did you know that Alexey Oleinik, the UFC fighter competing at #UFCColumbus today, was once a member of a violent pro-Russian militia in Ukraine that disguised itself as an MMA fight club?

A short🧵:

OPLOT was founded in 2010 by Yevhen Zhilin, a retired police captain and former Interior Minister officer who openly professed his loyalty to the Russian government.

The MMA club was based in the eastern city of Kharkiv & described itself as the “first fight club in Ukraine.”

Zhilin & his fighters were fiercely opposed to the anti-government protests in 2014. They targeted activists & were accused of kidnapping and torturing activist Dmytro Bulatov by cutting off his ear.

Here is mayor Vitali Klitschko visiting Bulatov in hospital after the attack

Oplot fighters were regularly accused of shadowing Kharkiv's pro-Russian mayor as enforcers. They attacked the opposition, threatened journalists and caused unrest at Euromaidan gatherings. Zhilin even promised to "smash the Maidan to pieces."

UFC fighter Oleinik was named “team leader” at the OPLOT MMA fight club in 2012 and remained with the club until he signed with the UFC in 2014.

During his time at Oplot, he never once opposed the attacks allegedly perpetrated by his teammates.

In 2015, Oleinik was deemed a "threat to national security" & banned from entering Ukraine, his birth country.

fter developing a reputation as a vicious militia, the OPLOT fight club was burned to the ground & many of its thugs were arrested.

The organization faded out of existence when its founder Zhilin was shot dead in a Moscow suburb in 2016.

When I attempted to interview Oleinik about OPLOT several years ago, he yelled at me whenever I pushed him to answer questions on the topic & eventually hung up.

In light of the ongoing war, Oleinik's past may come back to haunt him.

End 🧵