23-04-2025
Former UFC flyweight prospect sentenced to 15 years and 5 months in jail after pleading guilty to firearms and drug trafficking accusations
Pietro Menga. Photo by Adam Crowther
Potential
UFC flyweight prospect
Pietro Menga
was sentenced to jail for
15 years and 5 months
after pleading guilty to charges of being the middleman for one of the largest
firearm
and
drug trafficking conspiracies
in the UK. The fighter was accused of the crimes after the authorities decoded his texts over an encrypted messaging platform,
EncroChat
. Menga's prison sentence was declared on April 22, 2025.
Pietro Menga found guilty of being a middleman in one of the biggest firearm and drug trafficking conspiracies in the UK
Pietro Menga, a fighter based out of England, was one of the most promising fighters with 13 straight wins in a row. The fighter was scheduled to face Tim Elliot at UFC on FOX 26, but missed out on weight, following which the UFC cut him loose. The flyweight fighter had an abrupt ending to his UFC career without even taking off with his debut bout within the Octagon.
Post the UFC debacle, the fighter lost 4 straight bouts before finally securing a win in 2023 against Sam Halliday at the BMF MMA 5. His bout against Kiru Sahota has also been cancelled owing to certain circumstances.
However, his promising
MMA career
might just have ended with the recent devastating changes in his life. In 2020, the
Greater Manchester Police
suspected suspicious activities by the fighter when the once encrypted messaging platform was decoded by the police department. The encrypted messages talked about detailed drug deals, firearms sales, and assassination attempts.
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'After identifying Menga through messages where he openly spoke about his girlfriend, his knee injuries from fighting, and his home gym, detectives were able to piece together evidence which demonstrated the anonymous user was in fact Menga.' The police report further stated, 'From the messages on his encrypted mobile phone, a drugs expert estimated the street sale value of drugs that Menga was involved in were worth between £490,000 to £620,000, and he showed no indication of slowing down or stepping away from the world of crime.'
After gathering significant evidence against the fighter, the Greater Manchester Police arrested him on January 15, 2024
'On 15 January 2024, police executed a warrant at Menga's home address on Mount Street in Swinton and he was arrested.'
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Menga, before his arrest, was preparing to bounce back from a slump with a win and pave his way back into the UFC. However, this dream might just end up being a dream, with the recent turn of legal events in his life.
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