Belenyuk stated that Tishchenko did not accept his challenge to a fight under MMA rules
Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling champion and Member of Parliament Zhan Beleniuk stated that the MMA bout against Member of Parliament Mykola Tyshchenko will not take place because Tyshchenko did not accept the challenge.
According to the athlete, after his debut fight in mixed martial arts, in which he defeated Israel’s Haim Gozali, he proposed a match to Tishchenko. However, the idea did not move forward.
“As far as I know, he did not accept the challenge, so the question of our match is not relevant at this time,” Belenyuk said.
At the same time, the Olympic champion noted that he has not yet made a final decision regarding continuing his career in mixed martial arts.
According to him, MMA has become a new athletic challenge for him and an opportunity to go beyond his usual format. Beleniuk explained that he sought to gain new experience in martial arts and test his skills in a different discipline.
35-year-old Zhan Beleniuk is one of Ukraine’s most decorated Greco-Roman wrestlers. He won a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, became the Olympic champion at the 2020 Tokyo Games, and won a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Games.
In addition, Beleniuk is a two-time world champion (2015, 2019) and a three-time European champion (2014, 2016, 2019). Since 2019, he has also served as a member of the Ukrainian Parliament.
Beleniuk spoke about this in an exclusive interview with Sport RBC.UA.
As a reminder, Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling and Member of Parliament Zhan Beleniuk stated that a potential MMA bout against Mykola Tyshchenko is a real possibility, not a joke. According to him, the parties are already engaged in preliminary negotiations.
The Clipse beauty salon, owned by Alla Baranovska, the ex-wife of MP Mykola Tyshchenko, may have been used, according to investigators, to launder funds obtained from fraudulent call centers.
