MOSCOW, September 06, /ITAR-TASS/. American mixed martial artist Jeff Monson said he was planning start a fund-raising campaign for the residents of war-torn Donbass in eastern Ukraine.

Monson is a popular athlete in Russia where he has fought Alexander and Fyodor Yemelyanenko and participated in several major competitions.

The athlete, nicknamed Snowman, has several tattoos with Russian symbols and words in Cyrillic. Monson has also said on several occasions that he might apply for Russian citizenship.

Monson has been in martial arts since 1997, having had 66 fights, winning 49 and losing 17 of them.