Watch UFC star Khamzat Chimaev spar with sons of Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov

Khamzat Chimaev is certainly making the most of his time in Chechnya. The UFC star posted pictures of his sparring session with Chechen warlord…

By: Karim Zidan | 8 months ago
Watch UFC star Khamzat Chimaev spar with sons of Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Khamzat Chimaev is certainly making the most of his time in Chechnya.

The UFC star posted pictures of his sparring session with Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov’s three teenage sons, Akhmad, Ali, and Adam—the eldest of whom is 16.

The vast majority of the pictures showed the teenagers landing hard shots on Chimaev, including a head kick. The UFC fighter captioned his post, “Brotherly feelings.”

This is not the first time that Chimaev has taken part in sparring sessions with Kadyrov’s family. Over the past few weeks, the no. 3 ranked UFC welterweight has repeatedly trained with the teenagers in their private gym, even in the wake of Kadyrov’s vow to send them to fight in Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Chimaev has also had numerous training sessions with Kadyrov, including a May 2022 sparring session that saw the Chechen dictator ragdoll Chimaev for several minutes before attempting to submit him. The duo’s most recent sparring session took place last week and featured former UFC fighter-turned-politician Abdul-Kerim Edilov and Russian rapper Timati.

Kadyrov, who has ruled Chechnya like his personal fiefdom since rising to power in 2007, is routinely accused of orchestrating human rights abuses including assassinations, abductions, torture, extrajudicial killings, and purges targeting the local LGBTQ+ community.

Chimaev’s latest posts come in the wake of reports that Kadyrov is forcibly conscripting Chechen men and sending them off as “volunteer” battalions to the frontlines in Ukraine. The Chechen dictator also threatened to use nuclear weapons on Ukraine.

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About the author
Karim Zidan
Karim Zidan

Karim Zidan is a investigative reporter and feature writer focusing on the intersection of sports and politics. He has written for BloodyElbow since 2014 and has served as an associate editor since 2016. He also writes for The New York Times and The Guardian. Karim has been invited to speak about his work at numerous universities, including Princeton, and was a panelist at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival and the Oslo Freedom Forum. He also participated in the United Nations counter-terrorism conference in 2021. His reporting on Ramzan Kadyrov’s involvement in MMA, much of which was done for Bloody Elbow, has led to numerous award nominations, and was the basis of an award-winning HBO Real Sports documentary.

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