When a warlord’s intervention was required to settle a beef between Team Khabib and Khamzat Chimaev

Khamzat Chimaev's emergence in the UFC coincided with Khabib Nurmagomedov's retirement. His dominant wrestling game resembled that of 'The Eagle' and earned him the monicker 'Khabib 2.0'. But despite similar fighting styles and cultural backgrounds, the pair were engaged in a bitter rivalry.

At UFC 280, Chimaev was embroiled in a physical altercation with Khabib's cousin Abubakar Nurmagomedov. Ramzan Kadyrov, a warlord and the Head of the Chechen Republic, personally intervened to settle the rivalry. He took to Instagram and announced:

"There is no quarrel between Khamzat Chimaev and Abubakar Nurmagomedov - I have made sure of it personally, and I pass this information on to the ill-wishers. Do not blow up this problem of a global scale and do not try to instigate and tease athletes and their fans. This happens, including among brothers. But it was the misunderstanding that was resolved. We were and will be brothers, Inshallah! So do not write nonsense, do not take sin to your soul, for every dirty word you will have to answer to the Almighty!" [Translated from Russian]

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Khamzat Chimaev explains the reason behind his rivalry with Khabib Nurmagomedov

The rivalry between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Khamzat Chimaev was ignited when Chimaev took to the comments section of Ramzan Kadyrov's Instagram Live and claimed that he would "smash" Khabib over the alleged fallout with the Chechen leader.

Speaking to Adam Zubayraev, Chimaev explained what triggered his actions against Khabib:

"I just broke into the UFC [and]... they started comparing me with Khabib and other fighters. With Adlan Amagov, in particular. Of course, when you achieve some good results, they say saying ‘Oh, he’s is like Khabib or Adlan Amagov…’ But everyone has their own achievement. I’ve got mine, Khabib and Adlan has got theirs… every fighter wants to create his own legacy."

He added:

"So it doesn’t feel good to be compared to anybody else. I just got triggered as someone said that Khabib would smash me, so I responded to that dude. Although I should have not done it. I said, ‘Ok, if Khaib wants to smash me, I am ready to smash him’ and they just hyped that up."

Clips from Chimaev's interaction with Zubayraev were re-posted by @redcorner.mma on Instagram.

Check out Khamzat Chimaev's comments below: