Albert Kazaryan (left) greets his Azerbaijani opponent Ruslan Muratazov clad in the Armenian and Artsakh flags
MOSCOW—Mixed martial arts fighter Albert Kazaryan beat his Azerbaijani opponent Ruslan Muratazov on Sunday and dedicated his victory to the soldiers of Artsakh. Sunday marked the 24th anniversary of the liberation of Shushi.
It took the 23-year-old Kazaryan less than a minute to win the match.
To celebrate his win, Kazaryan entered the ring draped in the Armenian tri-color and the national flag of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. To accept his prize during the OFC8 competition, which was being held in Moscow’s Luzhniki Sports Complex, Kazaryan emerged dressed in military fatigues to loud cheers from the crowd.
This is not the first time that Armenian athletes have dedicated their wins to the soldiers of Artsakh. Last month, Armenia’s weightlifters Andranik Karapetyan, Nazik Avdalyan and Hripsime Khurshudyan also dedicated their victories at the European championships to the Armenian military.
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