World Taekwondo Withdraws Valdimir Putin’s Honorary Black Belt

While the Russia-Ukraine situation has alerted the entire world, there is a new development regarding the Russian President Mr. Vladimir Putin. Several media houses have reported that Putin has been stripped of his honorary Taekwondo black belt in the wake of the current situation between Russia and Ukraine.

The President’s achievements in the military are well-known by people all around the world. There are several videos on the internet that show him practicing his fighting skills. Therefore, owing to his work serving his country, it is not surprising that Putin is quite proficient in martial arts.

However, because of the current situation, Putin has been stripped of his black belt by ‘World Taekwondo’. As reported by ‘Reuters‘, ‘World Taekwondo’ feels that Putin’s actions go against their belief system. The organization believes in the motto “Peace is More Precious than Triumph”. Owing to this disparity, the organization took the step to withdraw the belt.

They wrote on their website, “In this regard, World Taekwondo has decided to withdraw the honorary 9th dan black belt conferred to Mr. Vladimir Putin in November 2013.”

They also wrote that neither the Russian and Belarusian national flags nor anthems would be displayed at their events.

Further, the ‘International Judo Federation’ took the decision to suspend his status as honorary president as well as the ambassador. FIFA and UEFA too, have taken some similar action, as per Reuters.

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Vladimir Putin and Khabib Nurmagomedov

Celebrated UFC icon Khabib Nurmagomedov is a Russian. He and his father met the President previously. According to an article published by ‘The Guardian‘, Putin congratulated Khabib for his victory against Conor McGregor at UFC 229.

Post the fight, the Russian fighter infamously jumped out of the cage and got into a brawl with McGregor’s friend Dillon Danis. The Russian President also sympathized with Khabib over this incident.

Interestingly, the President has also met McGregor. Both the personalities had clicked a picture together. However, the Irish fighter being told to remove his hand from the President’s shoulder was the most talked-about occurrence during this meet.

While Khabib has retired and has his own promotion to run, ‘The Notorious’ hopes to make a comeback at the UFC soon. Until his return, there are several great events on the line for UFC fans to watch.

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