MMA Fighters, Soccer Players Trying To Escape Russia Share Their Troubling Experiences

• Several MMA fighters have found themselves stuck in Russia, unable to return to their home countries.
• Numerous soccer players have also appealed to their government for help evacuating the country.
• Read more news about MMA here.

As Russia began its war on the Ukraine border on Thursday, several professional athletes who were in Russia found themselves unable to escape the country.

Among them are Cristiano Marcello (pictured above) and former BRAVE CF champion Luan Santiago, both from Brazil. Marcello and Santiago were in Yekaterinburg, Russia for RCC: Intro 19.

“I asked [RCC] officials if the war was going to spread [into the country] and if we should be worried, and they said they live in war tension, that it’s normal for them,” Marcello, who coaches Santiago, told MMA Fighting. “I asked the receptionist at the hotel if there was a risk of airports shutting down, and she said the Sochi airport was already closed.”

He added that while walking around Yekaterinburg last week, “No one was expecting a war.”

On Thursday, Marcello posted a photo of himself with Santiago with the caption, “Still here in Russia in the midst of this war madness hoping that we can return to Brazil today! And in the hope that there is no prolongation of this insanity!”

His flight home has been canceled, but he hopes that one will soon become available. That or he will try to take a train out of the country and get a flight once he is out of Russia.

Another Brazilian MMA fighter, Marcio Santos, participated in AMC Fight Nights 109 in Sochi this week. He and another fighter, Taigro Costa, both train in Dagestan. Right now, with no flights available, they are stuck hunkering down in a hotel.

“We were caught by surprise,” Santos told MMA Fighting. “[The war] was imminent, but we were surprised by it. I was going to fly back to Dagestan but the airports are now closed until further notice. I’m not good in geography but my translator told me we were basically in the Ukraine border, so I’m tense now. ‘Sh*t, that close?’ She said we’re almost in the epicenter. I was like, I live in Belford Roxo [Rio de Janeiro] so I’m used to wars, [but] I got worried. I thought we were distant [from the conflict], but then I found out we’re nearer than we would have hoped.”

Several other fighters who competed in Russia this week were able to make it to Moscow and fly home, but Jose Marcos, who also fought on the RCC: Intro 19 card, is stuck in the capital.

“We have no flight yet,” Marcos said. “We’re waiting for our manager to inform us what to do. We don’t speak English and we can’t even find out which company has our luggage.”

Several Brazilian athletes, including several soccer players, are begging to leave Russia

Meanwhile, several Brazilian soccer players are stuck in a hotel in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.

In a video posted to Twitter by journalist Arthur Quezada, soccer player Junior Moraes pleaded with Brazil to help them get out of Ukraine.

“The situation is one of despair. I ask you to disclose this video so that it reaches the government,” he said in the clip. “Borders and banks are closed, there is no fuel, there will be a shortage of food, there is no money. We are gathered waiting for a plan to leave Ukraine.”

Moraes also posted a message on Instagram which read, “All friends and family, the situation is serious and we are stuck in Kiev waiting for a solution to get out. We are inside a hotel. Pray for us.”

According to the Daily Mail, in addition to Moraes, there are 11 other Brazilian soccer players on his Shakhtar Donetsk team, as well as one more on Dynamo Kyiv.