The first championship belt in Chechnya’s history went to Khamzat Chimaev, a close friend of Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov, on Saturday. In the main fight of the evening, Chimaev faced South African Dricus du Plessis and scored an emphatic victory. The win was clean, the fight spectacular — but behind it all lay numerous nuances.
To begin with, Chimaev, like many other Russian athletes, had long been banned from entering the US. It seems the ban was lifted for him personally thanks to the intervention of UFC president Dana White, who supported Donald Trump’s election campaign and personally lobbied on Chimaev’s behalf.
For many, it is hard to grasp how a man who dedicated his victory to Adam Kadyrov — Ramzan’s chubby-cheeked son notorious for beating people in a detention centre — can still be part of the sporting world. This is nothing new: Chimaev has always referred to Adam as his protégé. This time, holding the championship belt, he also promised to ‘bring him this piece of metal’. He even called Adam by his nickname, Dustum — a codename once used by Ramzan Kadyrov himself during the Chechen wars.
So, Chimaev is able to bask in his share of glory in the American octagon, while at the same time countless other Russian athletes — completely detached from politics, with no ties to Kadyrov or Putin — are barred from competitions and considered untouchable.
It is also worth noting that Chimaev entered the octagon to a song by Timur Mutsuraev, who fought in the Chechen wars against federal troops. Much of Mutsuraev’s work is now designated extremist in Russia. The Russian sporting community has remained silent on the fighter’s choice.
Most strikingly, Chimaev himself shows no discomfort in competing in tournaments held on the territory of a so-called ‘unfriendly country’. And for some reason, Kadyrov, who urges everyone to take part in the war against Ukraine, has not sent his beloved Chimaev there — even though the powerful, well-trained athlete could surely be far more useful on the battlefield than wheezing conscripts dragged from office jobs.
The whole story feels somewhat murky, yet the slippery points are carefully avoided in all interviews. Still, the Chechen bearded fighter’s motivation is more than clear — money doesn’t stink. By his own admission, he earns $3 million per fight.
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