Sean Strickland already has his hands full at UFC 312 as he attempts to win back the middleweight title from Dricus Du Plessis in Sydney, Australia. But that hasn’t stopped him from beefing with the next contender for the belt, Khamzat Chimaev.
Khamzat had said he’d be showing up to UFC 312 in person, but it seems like a flashy new UAE passport wasn’t enough to get him into Australia. UFC CEO Dana White announced at the pre-fight press conference that “Borz” would not be attending. That’s left the Chechen fighter with some extra time to take potshots at “Tarzan” online.
“Why are you baby crying all the time?” Chimaev tweeted above a picture from 2011 of Strickland with his dad. “Father didn’t give you love or he showed his love to you too much?”
Strickland famously broke down in tears during a Theo Von podcast discussing the constant physical and mental abuse his mother suffered at the hands of his father through his childhood. It’s probably the healthiest thing we’ve seen from Sean emotionally since he arrived in the UFC. We’ve also seen Chimaev cry at an event for orphaned children, and it’s no big deal. Men are allowed to cry, especially over extremely sad things.
“Here’s the thing, my dad did hit me with some beer bottles once or twice lmao,” Strickland replied. “I will admit it, made me the man I am today … but I guarantee this little w—re sucked off Kadyrov … obviously not good enough because you had to flee your country.”
Strickland is referring to how Chimaev spent years palling around with Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of his home country Chechnya. He trained Kadyrov’s sons (who would later walk him out during his fights), and Kadyrov spoke at his wedding. They were close enough that when the U.S. State Department hit Kadyrov with sanctions, “Borz” was hit as well.
Chimaev reportedly hasn’t been able to get into a number of countries since then, although he and his team deny there’s any issue at all. But if there’s no issue with his Russian passport, why get a UAE passport? Strickland trains with plenty of Caucausus fighters at XTreme Couture, and the Russian rumor mill has Chimaev in the doghouse for swapping nationalities.
Getting another passport is seen as defection … just ask Khabib Nurmagomedov, who found himself in the middle of an extremely aggressive audit from Russia’s Federal Tax Service after it was leaked that he had a ‘secret’ UAE passport. Things have been smoothed over since then, but it was looking pretty iffy for a minute there.
Are things iffy for Khamzat Chimaev? Sean Strickland is certainly suggesting they are. And Chimaev has more to worry about than the taxman. People who ‘betray’ Kadyrov tend to disappear, and “Borz” wouldn’t be the first UFC fighter the warlord has possibly disposed of.
“Just got done training, mind is clear,” Strickland wrote in a follow-up tweet. “I’m gonna lay off of Chimaev Chechen thing. I’m very aware that his family is probably in danger and he probably regrets that relationship. So I’m going to attempt to not go there. Have a good day. Here’s to trying. Still is bit coin scams?”
Sean Strickland fights Dricus Du Plessis (not Khamzat Chimaev) this Saturday February 8th at UFC 312.
