[4] A former kickboxer and Greco-Roman wrestler, Suloev was recruited by the Russian team Red Devil Sport Club and made his debut in national promotion M-1 Global in 1999, losing to Andrei Semenov by armbar.
Suloev later avenged his defeat by choking out Semenov in Brazil for World Vale Tudo Championship, winning the WVC 11 Middleweight Tournament in the process.
At UFC 35, Suloev came to fight in the premier MMA organization of the United States where he faced top light heavyweight Chuck Liddell.
The fight was intense and Suloev demonstrated his level of skill with kickboxing as he avoided the trademark power shots of the feared American fighter.
[5] Some of the five other defendants involved in the case were Sergei Zirinov, a Krasnodar legislative assemblyman and member of president Vladimir Putin's "Unified Russia" Party.