On September 22, the Swedish television company SVT reported that Chechen athlete, UFC fighter Khamzat Chimaev no longer represents Sweden - he emigrated to the United Arab Emirates. This was stated by his manager Mahdi Shammas, without disclosing the reasons for this decision.
Two days later, Chimaev himself posted a joint photo with Ramzan Kadyrov in front of the name of the club "Akhmat" and wrote: "I represent my team @akhmat_mma, the best in the world, I want to say a huge thank you to them for all their support."
Chimaev has more than 7 million subscribers, many of whom reacted negatively to the post. "You fled with your family to Sweden from the war with the Russians. But you respect a dude who serves h*lu, how can you understand this ...", "Does anyone still ask if he supports Kadyrov? I feel sorry for real Chechens”, “Kadyrov is a terrible person, you should not support this dictator, especially when you live in Sweden! This guy goes against everything Sweden represents!” - such comments appeared under this post.
Chimaev has been criticized before for his good relations with Ramzan Kadyrov. Thus, SVT quotes Polish UFC fighter Jan Blachowicz: “If Chimaev supports people like Kadyrov, then he himself has blood on his hands.” Responding to these accusations, Chimaev told journalists: “There is a king in Sweden, isn’t there? If the king tells me to come and have lunch with him, I will do so. I will respect the king. Kadyrov is the president of my republic, and I respect him.”
Khamzat Chimaev was born in 1994 in the village of Gvardeyskoye in Chechnya, and competed in republican wrestling championships. At the age of 16, he and his family moved to Sweden, where he received refugee status. Before pursuing sports professionally, he worked at a poultry farm in Kalmar and was a security guard at a nightclub. He was involved in freestyle wrestling, was the champion of Sweden, and in 2017 he tried himself in MMA and after a series of 6 victories was invited to the UFC. Chimaev had 12 fights in mixed martial arts and won all of them, often by knockout. Having gained worldwide fame, he began to receive invitations from Ramzan Kadyrov, trained his sons, and vacationed with them in Thailand. On October 21, Khamzat Chimaev was supposed to have his first fight for the UAE with Brazilian Paulo Costa, but the fight did not take place due to Costa's injury. Nigerian Kamaru Usman entered the octagon instead. The judges awarded the victory to Chimaev. He later reported that he broke his hand in the first round of this fight, but continued the fight, changing his usual tactics.
