MOSCOW, February 25 - RAPSI. Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) champion Rasul "Black Tiger" Mirzayev who was given a suspended sentence for unintentionally killing 19-year-old student Ivan Agafonov has returned to sport and is taking part in the Russian combat sambo championships, chief coach of the Russian team Alexander Konakov told R-Sport.

Konakov said Mirzayev won two fights, but lost the third one. His defeat is related to the long time he spent out of the sport, Konakov believes, but he is sure that Mirzayev is capable of regaining his champion status.

On November 27, 2012, the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow sentenced Mirzayev to two years in prison for manslaughter.

Mirzayev was released in court on time served, however, as he had been imprisoned since August 24, 2011, and one day in pretrial detention counts for two in a penitentiary.

Mirzayev was initially charged with intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm, which resulted in Ivan Agafonov's death.

According to witnesses of both sides, Ivan Agafonov was somewhere between tipsily gregarious and drunkenly raucous while outside of the Garazh night club on the night of the incident. Mirzayev exited the club with his girlfriend in the early hours of the morning.

Agafonov approached the couple with a toy car, and allegedly made a comment about picking up prostitutes, with reference to Mirzayev's girlfriend.

The two men exchanged words, and Mirzayev finally hit Agafonov in the face. Agafonov, although 23 cm taller and 23 kg heavier than Mirzayev, collapsed to the ground. Shortly thereafter, Agafonov's friends took him, then relatively coherent, to a local hospital.

They claim that it took the hospital an inordinately long time to administer treatment. Agafonov slipped into a coma and died four days later.

On learning of Agafonov's death, Mirzayev turned himself in to the police, admitting that he had struck Agafonov on August 13.

Mirzayev was taken into custody, where he remained for nearly a year until the investigation ended. Mirzayev maintained that he had acted in self-defense, and that he had not intended to cause the death of the young man.

Mirzayev's trial formally began on July 25, 2012. He pleaded not guilty on the charges lodged against him.

Rasul Mirzayev had a highly promising future in mixed martial arts prior to his arrest. According to international MMA authority Sherdog, he was never defeated in the ring during his two-year career as a professional fighter, winning two of his five victories by knockout punches.

A page about Mirzayev on the Sherdog mixed martial arts website puts his height at 170.18 cm (5'7) and his weight at 65.77 kg (145 lbs.)

On August 16, 2011, during the period between the incident and his arrest, Mirzayev made headlines throughout the MMA world for signing a professional multi-fight contract with sponsor Bellator Fighting Championships.