“The Ginger Tarzan” Viacheslav Valerievich Datsik is the craziest man in MMA. He is, unfortunately, actually crazy.
You can tell a man character from his performance in a fight. You can see his heart, and his hopes, and everything he want to be. And if he’s crazy, you can see that too, as you can see.
Datsik is wearing leather pants, fighting a guy in a tee shirt, in what appears to be a ring set up in a nightclub. He is inviting the opponent to hit him, and at one point attempts a spinning backfist, falling to the ground.
The ref stops the fight, but Datsik wasn’t done, and takes a shot at the official. The kid in the white tee then runs in and hits Datsik. Then the ref throws the kid to the ground and, takes a shot at Datsik, who then drives the ref and himself over the top rope, with the opponent quickly following.
Normal people don’t do mixed martial arts. It is too scary. Russian fighters are noted particularly for their bravery, are often so calm under pressure that the term “Crazy Russians” is admiringly used.
But in a field very nearly defined by crazy, Datsik stands out. His behavior in the ring and cage was so unbalanced it was uncomfortable. It didn’t take Nostradamus to see this was not going to end well.
Around 2007, Datsik started robbing cell phone stores at gunpoint.
Then he became a neo Nazi, holding obsessive antisemitic and anti-Christian views, while exalting Slavic paganism. He believed Jesus Christ worked for the Israeli secret service, and that he himself was the son of the Slavic god Perun.
He was arrested for the robberies, but found to suffer from schizophrenia and avoided criminal charges. He was sentenced toa high-security mental institution for therapy, but was inexplicably transferred to a low-security psychiatric clinic. That did not end well.
In 2010, Datsik tore the hospital fence with his bare hands, and fled to Norway to seek asylum, armed. He was detained, sentenced to eight months in jail for violating Norwegian weapons law, denied his application for asylum, and was sent out of the country back to Russia, where he was imprisoned.
Then word came on the Russian social network page kontakte, that he was killed in prison in a brawl, and that it was confirmed by his mother.
Like previous rumors that Datsik was dead, it was false.
Reporting via gazeta.ru (original Russian), Alexander Zubov, Head of Press Service of the Federal Penitentiary Service management for St. Petersburg and Leningrad region, said “This is fictional. Who profits, I cannot say. Datsik is healthy, eating, has recently been out for a walk.”
Mental illness exacts a terrible toll, but he is said to be pleasant in person, if, obviously, troubled. Datsik remains imprisoned, which seems like the best thing for all parties involved.
