Bellator vet discharged from hospital after being shot six times, plans to resume MMA career

Three weeks after being shot six times, including a bullet that grazed his head, Shahbulat Shamhalaev has been discharged from hospital in Dagestan.

The former Bellator tournament winner and title challenger arrived at the hospital on June 1 with six bullet holes punctured throughout his body. Doctors operated immediately and were able to stabilize his condition. Shamhalaev was eventually placed in an induced coma and his vital organs were saved from any lasting damage.

Once Shamhalaev awoke from the coma, the fighter attempted to escape the confines of the hospital, and even made it as far as the courtyard before he was stopped by security. He even attacked one of the nurses during that time, an incident that was deemed the result of the "hallucinogenic effects" of the medication he was given.

Despite his turbulent tenure with the hospital, Shamhalaev was given an early discharge from the hospital because of his improved health.

"His paperwork was scheduled for tomorrow, but the athlete decided to check out early. Since his health is not in danger, we are not against," one of the doctors told kavkaz.versia.ru.

According to reports, Shamhalaev was shot in a fashionable restaurant in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala. Shamhalaev, who had walked into the restaurant armed with a pistol and a hunting rifle, was shot from behind by two assailants. The dispute between the fighter and the assailants, who were later identified as the bodyguards of a Dagestani politician, began the previous day.

"It all started one day before the shootout," an unnamed athlete told Moskovsky Komsomolets. "On May 31, Shahbulat was dragged from a conversation into an argument. Words were exchanged and eventually the guy hit Shamhalaev. He wanted to answer the offender, but they got a pistol and began firing into the ground. Then pointed their guns at his head and said: 'Do not show off, and then get killed.'"

"Shamhalaev replied, 'Shoot, you're a man.' They told him to meet on 1 June. Shahbulat took a 'Saiga', a gun and went to the place of a showdown. They were waiting for him. I do not know why he went there alone! Apparently, the evil really was in the emotions. He never even started the first quarrel. He was a peace-loving man."

BloodyElbow looked at the potentially numerous reasons why Shamhalaev was targeted in Dagestan.

The two assailants who punctured Shamhalaev in near-fatal fashion, M. Shamil and Hassan A, have been charged with attempted murder and arms smuggling. They were both already wanted criminals in Dagestan.

Despite his dramatic entrance in the restaurant armed with multiple weapons, Shamhalaev has not been charged at this time. However, he does plan to resume an MMA career if his body allows for it.

"Of course, he would like to play sports again," a source told Tass.ru. "A lot of time would be required to resume classes and general physical exercise, but with regard to martial arts, it is more difficult. But he will see."