MMA champion who supported Ukraine arrested during protests in Georgia

Georgian mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Mate Sanikidze was detained by police on Rustaveli Avenue during protests, Georgian private TV company Mtavari Archi reports. According to his wife, Sanikidze was transferred to a detention centre in Bakuriani.

"It is better to fight in Europe for free than in Russia for a billion! The future of Georgia is in Europe," the 24-year-old Octagon MMA featherweight champion wrote on his Facebook page, expressing solidarity with the protesters.

At the time of publication of the news, it became known that Sanikidze had been released from custody after two days in a prison cell. Giorgi Kokiashvili, a journalist for the Georgian edition of Setanta Sports, wrote about this on Twitter.

On March 27 last year, Mate won the Oktagon Prime 5 tournament, dedicating this result to our country.

"I want to dedicate my victory to Ukraine, Georgia and all the Georgian and Ukrainian heroes who died in the war! Glory to Ukraine, Glory to Georgia and Glory to the heroes!" - the fighter wrote on Facebook, posting a photo with the Ukrainian flag.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, on the evening of March 7, thousands of Georgians protested in front of the parliament in Tbilisi over the scandalous law on "foreign agents", which has a strong resemblance to the dictatorial legislation of the aggressor country Russia.

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