MMA fighter Dzhikhad Yunusov, who previously competed for the Chechen Akhmat club, has said that he is going to fight for Russia in their full-scale war against Ukraine. Yunusov had previously been excluded from the club after a video appeared online showing him assaulting two women.
‘My next fight at the ACA tournament in Moscow is cancelled, we are heading to the SVO [special military operation, the term Russia uses to describe its full-scale invasion of Ukraine], to Ukraine. Throughout my life I have represented my people and Russia in professional combat sports arenas, and now I will be glad and proud to defend my people in the SVO’, Yunusov wrote on Instagram.
The cancelled ACA tournament mentioned by Yunusov refers to Absolute Championship Akhmat. ACA is considered the largest MMA promotion in Russia and is among the top three MMA leagues.
Earlier, in May, Yunusov was excluded from the Akhmat club after footage was released, in which he is seen shouting at two women, his neighbours, and then assaulting them. The conflict reportedly began after Yunusov objected to a surveillance camera installed near the woman’s flat. He first poured coffee from a cup he was holding over an elderly Chechen woman, then began hitting and kicking her. When her daughter came out of the flat and tried to intervene, he also assaulted her.
The same day the footage aired, the Akhmat fight club announced Yunusov’s dismissal. The club stated that the decision was made on the instruction of the Deputy Chair of the Chechen Government and Minister of Sport Akhmat Kadyrov, the son of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. The statement said that Yusunov’s behaviour ‘does not meet the moral, spiritual and ethical standards’ upheld by the club.
Following the incident, Chechnya’s Interior Ministry said a check had been launched, while Chechen Deputy Chair of the Government Akhmed Dudaev stated that the perpetrator would be held accountable under the law. No public announcement has been made regarding the opening of a criminal case.
Yunusov, 35, is one of Chechnya’s best-known MMA fighters. According to Chechen opposition blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov, Yunusov is also ‘one of Kadyrov’s favourites’. His record includes victories over Russian and foreign opponents, including Brazilian fighter Leonardo Limberger and Georgian fighter Paata Robakhidze. He was also a silver medallist at the Combat Sambo World Cup and held the Commonwealth of Independent States jiu-jitsu title belt.
Yunusov was most active in the WFCA and ACA leagues associated with the Akhmat club. In 2021, he secured several notable victories, but his results later declined. The fighter’s last official bout took place in August 2024 at ACA 178, where he lost to Hafiz Sakibekov by judges’ decision. The defeat was his third in a row. After that, Yunusov effectively disappeared from professional tournaments, although in early 2026 he told followers that he had met with ACA management and hinted at a possible return to the sport. No new fight was officially announced.
Elizaveta Chukharova
