http://mmamania.com/2009/07/30/jeff-mon ... ted-stunt/Former number one UFC heavyweight contender, Jeff Monson, is facing up to 90 days in prison and a $21,894 fine after pleading guilty to malicious mischief for spray-painting an anarchist symbol on the Washington state Capitol building, according to Yahoo!Sports.
Perhaps more damaging is that fact that “The Snowman” had to surrender is passport, which essentially rules out an upcoming rematch against Pedro Rizzo at “Bitetti Combat” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Sept. 12. In addition, the 37-year-old submission specialist had other plans to compete in Japan and Russia in early 2010.
Upon hearing the ruling, Monson asked the judge:
“Are you going to support my family now?”
Monson — who was actually photographed by ESPN the Magazine committing the graffiti-related offense — is scheduled to be sentenced in October.
Since his departure from the UFC, Monson has performed quite well against quality competition in lesser known events. In fact, the self-described anarchist has won seven of his last eight fights following the Rizzo loss back in 2007.
After stealing a controversial unanimous decision victory against Roy “Big Country” Nelson at “March Badness,” Monson made short work of Russian gladiator Sergei Kharitonov at DREAM 8, forcing the Russian to tap with a north-south choke early into round one.
The American Top Team (ATT) product also recently made headlines when he tossed his name into the hat to fight Fedor Emelianenko at Affliction: “Trilogy” on Aug. 1 when Josh Barnett was scratched because of a positive test for steroids. The entire event was eventually canceled.
With Affliction out of the fight business, and restricted from international travel, Monson has just a handful of choices at his disposal. One that he may want to consider is Strikeforce, which is looking for an opponent to challenge Fabricio Werdum on Aug. 15.
