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This post was originally published on Karim Zidan’s Sports Politika Substack.
Ramzan Kadyrov’s favorite fighter: Khamzat Chimaev
In December 2023, wedged between posts showing solidarity with Palestine, Khamzat Chimaev published a photo of himself standing side-by-side with Ramzan Kadyrov.
“This man helped me return to life, not only for me and the entire Chechen people,” Chimaev wrote in the caption accompanying the photo of the two men smiling while deep in conversation. “I would like to thank him for everything he has done and is doing for us and our people.”
This wasn’t the first time that the UFC star has paid allegiance to Kadyrov, the Chechen dictator whose list of crimes include well-documented purges of sexual minorities, extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, forced conscription, and appalling acts of violence to quell all forms of dissent.
Over the past few years, the Chechen-born Chimaev has emerged as Kadyrov’s favourite fighter, with pictures showing him wining, dining, and training alongside Kadyrov and his family. In exchange for his continued loyalty, Kadyrov has showered Chimaev in gifts, including several Mercedes vehicles, a luxury villa in the Chechen capital of Grozny, and helped facilitate Chimaev’s marriage a few years ago.
Chimaev’s persistent endorsement of Kadyrov has stirred discontent within the MMA fanbase. Many of his followers inundate his Instagram comments, repeatedly bringing attention to Kadyrov’s human rights violations whenever Chimaev shares a picture of him.
A particularly striking comment on the aforementioned photo read: “Chimaev showing every day why he can’t get a visa and likely won’t be able to fight in the US again…”
The assertion stemmed from an interview released just before UFC 294 last October, during which Chimaev’s jiu-jitsu coach Alan Nascimento disclosed that the fighter was encountering difficulties entering the United States. Consequently, Chimaev relocated to the United Arab Emirates in hopes of mitigating his travel challenges.
“[Chimaev] just got a 10-year visa in Abu Dhabi and will apply for a type of passport here in the UAE, something like a citizenship, that could be used for travels,” Nascimento said. “Many Russian athletes are suffering with that. Chechens, Dagestani, Russians in general. But I think things will start to flow for Chimaev soon, and for other athletes too.”
“Sports save lives,” he continued. “To see athletes, people that have never committed any crimes and are just trying to live life in a positive manner and serve as example for the next generations, to pay the price and be unable to work because of problems caused by other people, I don’t think it’s fair. I don’t think it’s right. People might condemn what I’m saying, but what does an athlete have to do with a war started by two people that have nothing to do with sports?”
While Nascimento presented Chimaev as the innocent victim of geopolitical circumstance due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there is more to the story.
Why the UFC’s Chimaev can’t fight in the US
In December 2020, the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued sanctions targeting Kadyrov and his Akhmat MMA fight club.
The Akhmat MMA fight club consists of an MMA organization and several training facilities throughout Chechnya and various other post-Soviet states. The fight club is sponsored by Kadyrov himself through his government’s budget and is managed by Abuzayed Vismuradov, a decorated general and Kadyrov’s right-hand man, who was sanctioned by the United States government in 2019 for his role in Chechnya’s purge of sexual minorities.
Through his fight club, Kadyrov was able to establish relationships with a seemingly endless list of celebrities, including the likes of former martial artist turned D-list actor Steven Seagal and boxing legends like Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather.
Kadyrov also invited more than a dozen past and current UFC champions to visit his Akhmat MMA facilities. These associations serve the dictator’s soft power strategy to enhance his public image as a benevolent patron of sports.
However, the OFAC sanctions marked the first time that a country had targeted Kadyrov’s sports investments, paving the way for governments to scrutinize the dictator’s affiliations with American athletes and organizations such as the UFC.
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Sports Politika is the home of Karim Zidan’s original content that focuses on the intersections between sports and politics. At Sports Politika, you can find Zidan covering topics you may be familiar with from the world of MMA and boxing. However, Sports Politika also goes beyond the ring and the cage, covering stories of sportswashing across the world.
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