UFC not worried about fighter's Chechen ties

NEW YORK • Khamzat Chimaev's victory last weekend in a bruising fight served as a declaration in mixed martial arts - the undefeated welterweight is quickly becoming the Ultimate Fighting Championship's next superstar.

Yet as his mystique has grown through exciting bouts and promotional spectacle, the same UFC that builds fighters into pay-per-view headliners has sidestepped a problem for Chimaev and others in the sport - the relationships with Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman leader of Chechnya whose personal businesses have been constrained by the US government.

Hours before his bout last Saturday, Chimaev, 27, posted a picture on his Instagram story that showed him chatting by video with Kadyrov, who has been accused of gruesome human rights abuses and is a close ally of President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

Chimaev, who was born in Chechnya and moved to Sweden when he was 18, has long been lavished with praise and luxury by Kadyrov, who has hosted him at parties and once gave him a Mercedes-Benz.

In 2017, the US Treasury issued sanctions that blocked American citizens and people present in the United States from doing business with Kadyrov. Several of his associates and some of his businesses were similarly punished in 2020.

One of his most visible business pursuits, one that has intertwined repeatedly with the UFC and other combat sports organisations, has been mixed martial arts, including his gym, Akhmat MMA.

Chimaev's picture on Saturday included a caption with the phrase "Akhmat Sila", a battle cry popular among Kadyrov loyalists that translates to "Akhmat Power". Akhmat is a variation of the name of Kadyrov's father.

Chimaev's manager and agent did not respond to messages requesting comment.

Numerous athletes and others in the world of mixed martial arts have ties to Kadyrov, who has supplied Chechen soldiers to support the Russian forces fighting in Ukraine. He has been one of the most fervent supporters of the war and has pushed for taking control of Kyiv, Ukraine's capital.

In one of his recent addresses, Kadyrov said that Chechen soldiers would first "liberate" Donetsk and Luhansk in the separatist eastern Donbass region, "and then we will take Kyiv next".

Before the war, he was accused of brutal human rights abuses, including kidnapping, torturing and killing LGBTQ people in Chechnya.

Athletes training with his Akhmat MMA gym have fought regularly in UFC bouts for years. In a statement to The New York Times, the MMA promotion said it had "no contractual relationship or any commercial dealings with Ramzan Kadyrov or any of his family, associates or affiliated companies".

The UFC said its fighters were independent contractors and that it entered into contracts with them directly, without intermediaries. The organisation also said it had no affiliation with Akhmat MMA.

NYTIMES