Khamzat Chimaev, Abubakar Nurmagomedov quash beef with help from Khabib, Ramzan Kadyrov
Following Islam Makhachev's victory at UFC 280 for the lightweight title, members of Khabib Nurmagomedov's camp, including his cousin Abubakar Nurmagomedov, got into a fight with Khamzat Chimaev at the cage side. It appears that Khamzat Chimaev and Abubakar Nurmagomedov's dispute came to an end quickly.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of the Chechen Republic and one of the world's most cruel dictators in the opinion of many political observers, appeared to have put an end to the beef. But the UFC Hall of Famer, Khabib Nurmagomedov put things right by applauding the welterweight contender while they were munching.
In response to the event, Khabib Nurmagomedov said:
"What happened yesterday does not show us well. Neither me nor Khamzat nor Abubakar. To tell the truth, we are tired of this nonsense. Here we are gathered as brothers, talked to each other, and we apologized to each other, hugged and inshallah I hope that in the future that we will only gather and fight for good reasons. That was today."
"Islam won the belt at first. The next one, very close, is going to be Khamzat. Khamzat, let us all get together so when Khamzat wins the belt, it's not for the showing off, not for this conversation that we are going to celebrate. We will celebrate for our new champion, inshallah... I hope that this is our sad moment that it will never happen to anyone else."
Chimaev watched from the stands as Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira fought for the lightweight championship at UFC 280 on Saturday. Just a few hours after defeating Gadzhi Omargadzhiev on the Abu Dhabi preliminary card, Nurmagomedov was also present.
It appears that the beef began in 2021. In an Instagram post that has since been deleted, Nurmagomedov wrote a lengthy letter to Chimaev. Chimaev's remarks regarding Khabib Nurmagomedov were misinterpreted by Abubakar Nurmagomedov, who admonished him to "be careful."
The confrontation then turned nasty in the enclosure, and UFC and venue security had to separate the men. Dana White, president of the UFC, explained it as just something that happens when fighters are involved after the incident.
However, on Sunday, Abubakar Nurmagomedov shared a video showing Khabib in charge of a group that also included Chimaev and himself on his Instagram account. He said that the two have finally resolved their differences.
The translation, in part, says it was “a small misunderstanding that took place personally between me and Khamzat. After that, we met with him in the Brotherhood circle, where we were gathered by the elders. As I said in an interview before my fight, Khamzat is my brother in Faith and I always wish him health and success. I ask you, brothers, not to invent any kind of gossip and I hope our meeting will be beneficial between our brotherly peoples.”
In addition, Kadyrov shared a snapshot of a video conference he had with Chimaev and Abubakar Nurmagomedov on Instagram along with a caption claiming to have assisted in healing the dispute between the two.