MMA fighter Georgiy Gagloev found dead in a train car

Mixed martial arts fighter Georgiy Gagloev, from Beslan in the North Caucasus, was found dead in a train en route from Vladikavkaz to Moscow. TASS reports, citing sources from the sports world, that Gagloev was found during a stop in Rostov-on-Don.

According to a TASS sources, Gagloev’s death may have been violent. News outlet Baza reports that he was suffocated with a pillow. However, the Telegram channel “112” claims that Gagloev died of a pulmonary embolism.

Sources of the online publication Baza linked Gagloev’s alleged murder to the fact that he was searching for his aunt, Rimma Gagloeva, a well-known fortuneteller from the North Caucasus. Gagloeva went missing in Chechnya in February 2022, along with a taxi driver who, was taking her from Grozny to Beslan. After they disappeared, investigators opened a criminal case relating to the murder of two or more people.

According to open sources, Georgiy Gagloev was the 2016 winner of a men’s Sambo championship in St. Petersburg, the 2018 winner in judo at the St. Petersburg Armed Forces Championship, and the 2020 winner of a cage fighting MMA tournament in Kislovodsk. TASS reports that he has also taken part in three pop MMA fights, a non-professional tournament-style fighting game that has become popular in recent years in Russia. Gagloev was defeated in all three pop MMA fights.