MOSCOW, August 29 - RAPSI. The defense of mixed martial arts champion Rasul Mirzayev, who allegedly punched and killed 19-year-old Ivan Agafonov, has requested his release, Mirzayevs attorney Igor Dergachev told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI).

According to Dergachev, the appeal hearing date has yet to be scheduled.

Earlier, a Moscow law enforcement source told RAPSI that Mirzayev punched Agafonov on August 13 near a downtown Moscow nightclub. Agafonov was taken to a hospital where he died several days later. He never regained consciousness.

On August 22, a district court released Mirzayev on a 5 million ruble ($179,000) bail, but the next day the Moscow City Court overruled the decision and remanded the case for another bail hearing.

After the second bail hearing on August 24, the court sanctioned Mirzayevs arrest and denied him bail.