AKIPRESS.COM - An MMA fighter from Tajikistan fled to Iraq to fight for the Islamic State and was killed in an airstrike earlier in February 2015, according to the media.

Islamic militant Abu Muhammad al-Tajiki, formerly known as Alan Chekranov, was confirmed dead following a recent air strike near Kirkuk, according to Tajik service of RFE/RL. Chekranov was a three-time MMA national champion in his home country.

While Chekranov does not have an official MMA page, RFE/RL confirmed that he was a national champion in men's 54kg.

The 21-year-old attended the Tajik-Russian Slavic University but was expelled two years later for systematic no-show.

Once Chekranov was expelled, he moved to Russia under "labor migration" and stayed in the country for a year. It was there that he met several North Caucasus youth, and through them, was able to leave for Iraq in 2013.

According to his longtime friend Sharfor Tagoev, Chekranov was an entirely different human being once he returned from Russia. "Before, he used to work-out all the time and he only talked about mixed martial arts," Tagoev told RFE/RL. "But when he came back from Russia, he had a little beard, and he used different words."

RFE/RL added that many Tajik militants traveled to Syria and Iraq using the same route through Russia. So far, the number of Tajiks fighting for ISIS is between 70-300.