Ramzan Kadyrov – the tyrant accused of well-documented human rights abuses including enforced disappearances, torture, summary executions and war crimes – now plays the role of mediator in disputes between UFC fighters.
The Chechen dictator has posted a screenshot on his official Instagram account showing him on a video call with UFC star Khamzat Chimaev and Abubakar Nurmagomedov, the two fighters who got into a physical altercation after UFC 280. It’s just a mere “misunderstanding” and that he settled the dispute between the two fighters.
“There is no problem between Khamzat Chimaev and Abubakr Nurmagomedov – I personally made sure of it, and I am passing this information on to the unfortunate,” Kadyrov told his 8.1 million followers on Instagram. “Don’t inflate this issue on a global scale and don’t try to goad and annoy athletes and their fans. It even happens between brothers. But it was the misunderstanding that got resolved.”
The fighters also met and posed with Abu Zayed Vismuradov, Kadyrov’s right hand man and the man in charge of his Akhmat MMA fight club. Wismuradov who was pictured alongside newly crowned UFC Lightweight Champion Islam Makhachevformer champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, as well as Chimaev, were sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in 2018 for “extrajudicial killings, torture or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights”.
Known as one of Chechnya’s most dangerous men, Vismuradov was also involved in overseeing Chechen troops deployed to fight in Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
It’s also worth noting that Chimaev had already attracted negative attention on Saturday after the UFC star posted a picture showing him sitting next to Ali, the son of Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov, next to the cage. The 14-year-old was among Kadyrov’s children who were sent to Mariupol, the occupied Ukrainian port city that was destroyed by Russian forces, to attend propaganda photo ops disguised as soldiers. Footage showed the three teenagers firing grenade launchers and assault rifles from behind camouflaged bushes at an undisclosed location.
The teenagers later reportedly returned to Chechnya Capture of three Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs), which were then paraded on Kadyrov’s social media channels.