Khamzat Chimaev made an unexpected cameo at UFC 280 in October 2022.
‘Borz’ was in the crowd on the night Islam Makhachev beat Charles Oliveira to become the UFC lightweight champion.
Naturally, Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s family was in attendance to cheer on their teammate in his biggest fight to date.
All hell broke loose when Khamzat Chimaev traded blows with one of the group after a cageside confrontation.
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Watch Khamzat Chimaev’s UFC 280 brawl
The cameras were fixated on Khamzat Chimaev during his intense conversation with Abubakar Nurmagomedov, who had picked up a unanimous decision win over Gadzhi Omargadzhiev earlier in the evening.
Things got out of hand when Chimaev pushed the cousin of one of MMA’s best-ever fighters.
Both men threw punches, but nothing appeared to land before security intervened to break up the brawl.
Chimaev was mobbed by several people who were tasked with pulling him away from the ugly UFC 280 scuffle.
A day later, Khabib Nurmagomedov brought both sides together and squashed the beef once and for all.
“What happened yesterday does not show us well. Neither me, nor Khamzat, nor Abubakar,” he said.
“To tell you the truth, we are tired of this nonsense. Here we are gathered together as brothers.
“We have talked to each other and we apologised to each other.
“I hope that in the future, we will only gather and fight for good reasons.”
What’s next for Khamzat Chimaev?
Khamzat Chimaev is just one fight away from claiming MMA’s greatest prize.
The 14-0 Russian phenom is set to face middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 319 on Saturday night.
Pre-fight, Khabib Nurmagomedov told Chimaev to abandon his usual game plan to beat ‘DDP’.
“Personally, I would advise Khamzat to strike with him,” he said in July.
“If I were coaching, I would give him different advice. If you put them straight boxing, Khamzat is better.
“You can try to force things early, but if you don’t finish him, you’ll burn a lot of energy.
“You’ll need it in the championship rounds. And Khamzat hasn’t been to the championship rounds.”