Khamzat Chimaev defeated Kamaru Usman at UFC 294 and went on to give a heartfelt speech during his post-match interview. He started speaking in English first and talked about the situation of the world where Israel and Palestine are in the middle of a war. He was particularly disappointed with the sufferings of the children and said that he has a three-month-old son. However, he soon switched to Chechen.
The Chechen-born fighter addressed the Abu Dhabi crowd in Chechen for a minute. Apparently, Chimaev claimed that he was ready to go to Palestine with a rifle. He asked for consent from the Head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov. According to an X account, here is the translation of his speech:
“May Allah be pleased with all of you Chechens, May Allah strengthen you all. Today a lot of you have come here and a lot of you are watching along at home. President, may Allah be pleased with you, may He strengthen you, standing with you and fighting for you isn’t that hard.
🇷🇺🇵🇸 UFC fighter, @KChimaev’s post-fight speech in Russian translated to English. pic.twitter.com/ITw2CjTaam
— Censored Men (@CensoredMen) October 21, 2023
“If Allah allows me to, Wallahi I will go there as the first person. By Allah, give me a rifle and let me go to Palestine. Allah be pleased with you. Wallahi, I’ve not been raised to be in here wearing shorts. Do you Chechens not know the heart we have in our body? If I get permission to fight for Allah, I’m ready to die for him. I’m not as worried about dying as I am worried about my Muslim brothers.”
Chimaev has shown support for Palestine previously as well. Since the war began, he has made several posts on X supporting Palestine.
Khamzat Chimaev continues his unbeaten run with a majority decision win over Kamaru Usman
Chimaev was set to face Paulo Costa in a Middleweight fight at UFC 294. However, Costa had to pull out due to an injury on his elbow. Usman agreed to move up from Welterweight and fight Chimaev on short notice. The American fighter gave Chimaev a run for his money.
Khamzat Chimaev takes the majority decision!!
He leaves #UFC294 with the victory over Kamaru Usman at #UFC294 pic.twitter.com/EjxZT6XiBA
— UFC (@ufc) October 21, 2023
Chimaev started strong and showed off his impressive wrestling skills to earn a 10-8s from all three judges in the first round. The second and third round was a little difficult as most of it was fought on foot. However, Chimaev pulled off a majority decision win as two judges scored the fight 29-27 with one judge ruling it as a tie.
Usman was unhappy with the decision and many fans as well thought that Usman had done better. However, the decision was made and Usman continued his losing streak as he lost a third match in a row seeing his record become 20-4. On the other hand, Chimaev has pulled up an impressive 13-0 overall record. He is set to face Sean Strickland next for the Middleweight title.