Jeff Monson is perhaps the most uniquely positioned American mixed martial artist to discuss the existential crisis that is the current war in Ukraine. In some ways, Monson is as all-American as it gets – blue chip collegiate athlete in the nation’s heartland turned hall of fame caliber pro fighter and former world heavyweight MMA title challenger.
On the other hand, Monson (61-26-2) is uncharacteristically worldly, at least for a typical American. The black belt and multiple time jiu-jitsu world champ has not just trained and competed all across the globe, he’s also made a new continent and country his home in recent years.
Monson, the all-American He-Man, chose several years ago to move, full-time, to Russia, where he’s started a new family, worked in government, competed, and founded a network of over 100 martial arts schools for children, free-of-charge to their families.
Having family, friends, work and one’s heart shared across thousands of miles is always a challenging, if worthwhile experience for all immigrants. In a time of hot war at his new home’s border with Ukraine and an accelerating cold war between his nation of birth and adopted country, however, it’s all a bit scary for people like Monson.
Both brutal U.S. economic sanctions on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, as well as Russia’s own resulting internet restrictions in the past few weeks are already taking a toll on regular people in Russia, Monson tells The Underground.
“Of course, people are having many more issues than this, because people are dying,” he makes a point of saying before answering what type of toll this possible antecedent to World War III is taking on him and his neighbors in Russia.
“But people are afraid. I’m afraid.”
In his home city of Ufa, Monson says he’s already seeing runs on banks because of the national currency being devalued due to sanctions, and with tension between his two nations, the U.S. and Russia, escalating, he’s facing the classic immigrant problem couplet of difficulty remitting financial support to and communicating with loved ones.
“I see long lines of people at the bank, withdrawing their money. Money is worth about half of what it was a week-and-a-half ago, so that’s terrible,” he details.
“I can’t send Western Union, I can’t send money back to the United States to my kids or anything like that, so that’s affecting me directly. And, even if I could … it would be worth half as much as it was a week or a week-and-a-half ago. I was supposed to be in the U.S. two days ago, but all the flights got canceled.
“Facebook is shut down (in Russia).I heard Instagram is on its way to being shut down.”
If the Facebook-owned WhatsApp messaging and phone application is also eventually restricted in Russia, Monson and others like him in the international community will have to scramble for alternative ways to communicate with loved ones abroad.
“All my connections to the U.S., my family and stuff is going to be blocked (if WhatsApp is blocked in Russia),” he explains.
The financial squeeze on the Russian people could soon get much worse as well if the United States follows through with an embargo on Russian petrol. “If they go through with the oil embargo, it’s going to be a struggle,” Monson continues.
“Russia really depends on (oil).”
The former social worker and teacher, and longtime outspoken anti-war activist, has always been one to take action, though the current war and its attendant pressures render even this powerful fighter feeling a bit helpless at present. “I don’t know what to do,” Monson admits.
What he nonetheless continues to do is attempt to educate people on important historical context that is often missing in both American and Russian propagandized media reporting. During our full video-taped conversation, Monson astutely deconstructs both U.S. and Russian propaganda surrounding the war in Ukraine.
One such important concept to deconstruct for Monson is the notion that U.S. sanctions are paths to peace or effective tools to hurt national leaders. “Do you think Vladimir Putin is being hurt (by sanctions) personally? Do you think he eats less, or any of the people in government or that any of these oligarchs are struggling in any way on a day-to-day scale because of these sanctions? No. It’s hurting ordinary people,” Monson asserts.
“And the U.S. government should know this by now because they sanction, sanction, sanction, but ordinary people don’t turn against the government. The government says that the United States is doing this to us. … The people listen. It’s in the news. It’s in the media. It’s in conversation.
“They’re not going to go, ‘Oh, I blame Vladimir Putin for this.’ No, they’re going to blame the U.S. Vladimir Putin isn’t making sanctions on us, it’s the United States. It’s the West doing this. It’s Europe doing this to us. So, they’re not going to turn.”
Though Monson says he observes wide support within Russia among its people for its government taking action against increasing economic isolation and Western military encirclement, he specifies that most Russians want peace and for this war to end, not for Russia to take over Ukraine or take revenge for the over 14,000 largely ethnically Russian people who have been killed by the Ukrainian military in Eastern Ukraine over the past eight years.
“Ukraine and Russia used to be one country, … everyone wants this to end. No one wants it to continue. No one wants to take over Ukraine … and have Russians and Ukrainians killed,” Monson maintains.
“Russians are like, ‘They’re our brothers. Why are we shooting Ukrainians?’ Even the people who, like most people, are supportive of the Russian military, who are supporting Putin … don’t want it. They would wish it would end tomorrow.”
As both an American and new Russian, Monson has a perspective that helps him see the ways both populations are propagandized. During our conversation, we spent a lot of time poking holes in the world hegemonic power’s conventional narratives around Russia, but Monson also readily admits the ways in which simple truth is obscured in Russia.
“No one is calling it an invasion. The propaganda term is it’s a ‘military mission,’” he says, as an example.
Monson is also dubious about one of the main official reasons given by the Russian government for its invasion of Ukraine – to defend the independence-seeking people in Donetsk and Luhansk who have been butchered by Ukrainian troops for nearly a decade.
Monson, who says he’s visited the regions many times in recent years, says that if the Russian government truly cared about all the innocent people slain in Eastern Ukraine, they would have recognized them as independent republics long ago.
“Something I wouldn’t talk about so much here … these people in Donetsk and Luhansk have been suffering bombs for eight years. Russia helped them out with gas and humanitarian aid but they only recognized them as independent republics a week ago or two weeks ago,” Monson reasons.
“That’s one of the declared reasons for the invasion – you can’t call it an invasion here but that’s what it was, an invasion. Well, why did you wait eight years to do it? That’s not the real reason. Those people have been suffering for eight years.”
Despite the stress and heartbreak at all the blood needlessly shed near his new home, Monson, ever the sportsman, takes heart at the potential good sport can do anywhere people gather together in solidarity to train. Monson’s own network of schools is growing, fast, with hundreds of children now able to train wrestling and jiu-jitsu for free because of government funding, and that is a bright spot for “The Snowman.”
“The schools are doing great. I couldn’t be happier. It makes my heart happy,” he beams.
“It’s more important than ever to have these school and for these kids to have something to look forward to. … Let’s do some sport. Let’s keep occupied. Let’s find some constructive place to put your energy.”
For Monson, who at 51 is still an active fighter, sports offer so much more than skill and play. “You learn cooperation, and friendship, and trying your best, and working hard, and achieving goals, but also helping others along the way and be helped by others along the way. If we were all that way in society we wouldn’t be having wars,” he concludes.
“You’re not just teaching sport, you’re not just teaching jiu-jitsu. You’re teaching humanity. You’re teaching love and respect.”
