Khamzat Chimaev breaks silence on SMASH meme coin scam controversy, discloses who's to be blamed: "We will make them apologize"

Khamzat Chimaev's endorsement of a meme-themed crypto coin SMASH drew attention for all the wrong reasons. The UFC middleweight prospect, who hasn't competed since his UFC 294 win over Kamaru Usman in October 2023, promoted the bitcoin built around his assertion to “smash everyone” during his climb in the sport.

The Russian-born fighter allegedly linked the team wallets directly with the insider wallets buying up 78%+ of the supply. Unfortunately, for early users of ‘SMASH’ the value fell down to zero, and they lashed out at Chimaev and his team's incompetency. GeckoTerminal reported that the token value went down by 96% within 24 hours.

Chimaev's manager clarified the undefeated fighter's part in the whole fiasco, claiming that he "knows just as little" as the fans do. He apologized for the hasty decision claiming that he was misled.

'Borz' has finally addressed the issue in an interview with Aslanbek Badaev, claiming that his manager made a mistake. He said:

"Well, my manager... you can say acted stupidly and I also made a mistake in this crypto. I don't understand [crypto] at all, I trust my manager... Like any other athlete probably doesn't know what crypto is and how it works, I don't know for sure. I don't even have time to look at what it is." [H/t: @ChampRDS on X]

Speaking about the matter further, he said:

"Well these people [who proposed the idea] are lost now. Now we are looking for them. We will find the others and make them apolgize for it."

Check out the full video below:

Check out the full interview below:

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Khamzat Chimaev details sparring session with Sean Strickland

Khamzat Chimaev seemingly felt slighted by Sean Strickland's comments that he got the better of 'Borz' during their sparring sessions.

The former UFC middleweight champion is lobbying for a title shot next with the declaration that he would wait on the sidelines till the opportunity is presented to him. Meanwhile, Chimaev, who hasn't competed in nine months, wants a crack at the middleweight gold.

Speaking in the aforementioned interview with Aslanbek Badaev, he offered a contrasting side of the sparring encounter with Strickland, stating:

“He said he beat me in sparring. But there were a lot of guys around who saw me choking him and beating him up. It was even recorded on camera. So, we also have some unfinished business. It would be good to see who’s better inside the octagon.”

Catch Chimaev's comments below: