Van Damme is going to fight Somluck Kamsing in Chechnya

The Hollywood actor Jean-Claude Van Damme, who is staying for two weeks in Chechnya at the invitation of Ramzan Kadyrov, said on air of Chechen television that the head of Chechnya had agreed to hold his fight with Somluck Kamsing, the 1996 Olympic boxing champion, in Grozny.

"We want to make it bright. This is a great event; we have to invite a lot of people and make this fight a great show. So, if I win, it will be a big win, and if I lose, then, it will be a great defeat," said Van Damme.

According to the 51-year-old actor, who was the 1979 European champion in karate and kickboxing in the middle weight among professionals, only such people like Mr Kadyrov and Mr Putin - the latter had earlier given his consent to hold the fight in Moscow - can help to make this event real, the "RIA "Novosti" reports. "One of them is a sambo wrestler, and the other is a boxer; they understand that sometimes an old man, and I'm an old man, wants to feel him young," the RBC quoted Van Damme as saying.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that earlier the Hollywood actor had visited Grozny on the Day of the City, where he delivered a welcoming speech. The voyage to Grozny of foreign stars had outraged human rights activists. "When stars get paid for their participation in his (Kadyrov's) party, it debases the suffering of countless victims of human rights violations," ran the statement of the Human Rights Watch.

Mr Van Damme sticks to a different opinion: "Mr Kadyrov has ensured return of peace to this republic, and he achieved this goal. When Chechens are inviting stars from America and Europe, it is because they love them. I think you can't offend people refused who love you and wait for you to come."

However, just a few minutes, elaborating on this topic in his performance in the programme "Dialogues" at the Chechen State Television Channel "Grozny", Van Damme said that in general he not aware of what was happening in the world, the PIK TV Channel has reported today.

"We all know that Chechnya had faced huge problems in the past. But I'm not very keen in news items. Now, you'll be laugh at me, but I almost don't watch news, because I do not like them. I never know to what extent they are true, the news. I read scripts; the news don't interest me," confessed the actor.