Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze has once again met with Khamzat Chimaev, a Chechen MMA fighter closely associated with Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov. As with the previous meeting in 2024, Kaladze and Chimaev met in Tbilisi.
Footage of the meeting was shared on Instagram by Kaladze, who is also the Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party. In the video, Kaladze is seen hugging Chimaev and another person, while the caption reads: ‘Welcome to Tbilisi, my brother’.
The footage was likely filmed in a hotel near Tbilisi’s Heroes’ Square.
Kaladze met Chimaev in December 2024 as well, when the mayor received the MMA fighter at the Tbilisi City Hall.
Chimaev has longstanding ties with Chechnya’s authoritarian leader Kadyrov. He has frequently posted photos on social media featuring Kadyrov and his family members, referring to Kadyrov as his ‘big brother’ and expressing respect and gratitude towards him.
Following his clinching of the UFC middleweight title in August at a match in Chicago, Chimaev personally thanked Kadyrov. In turn, Kadyrov gifted Chimaev a Mercedes Maybach GLS 600 — a 2025 model starts at about $180,000.
Chimaev last competed in the US on 10 September 2022. After visa restrictions were introduced, he fought only in Abu Dhabi. UFC-319 was his first return to the American octagon in almost three years. According to reports, this was possible because UFC president Dana White had actively supported Donald Trump during his election campaign.
Acknowledging the controversy, Kaladze defended his 2024 meeting with Chimaev in comments with the media, stating that the fighter is his friend.
When asked by a journalist whether it was normal for a Kadyrov supporter or a member of his group to come to Georgia, Kaladze replied that they ‘are not friends because of political views’.
‘I have friends, even within the country, who may have different political views. This will not determine whether I will be friends with someone or not’, he said at the time.
OC Media
