Chechnyan-Swedish UFC fighter Khamzat Chimaev defeated former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman via majority decision at the UFC 294 PPV event held in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Chechen-born Chimaev has been a vocal supporter of the Palestinian side and used the platform to send his message.
He made the emotional speech in the Russian language, and here is the translation of it as posted on the messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter:
“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.”
“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.”
Russia’s Islam Makhachev, 31, also said Israel “is not killing terrorists, they’re killing kids and old people, this is crazy.”
Islam Makhachev knocked out Alexander Volkanovski in the first round to retain his lightweight title at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi.
In his post-fight interview, he called for peace and an end to the violence in the Israel-Gaza war.
He said about the importance of speaking about world peace and certain thing going on the occupied territories, “First of all because all my last month, all my camp, I watched the videos I watched the story about the situation. What happened in the Gaze Strip makes me very sad. They (Zionists) close them and attack them every day. They are not killing some terrorist or some like people. They are killing the kids and old people, this is crazy what happen now in the Gaza. And just I want to send the message that we stand with Palestine, we always with you.”