UFC middleweight contender Khamzat Chimaev’s seemingly innocent endorsement of a crypto coin has landed him in some trouble within the MMA community. This is due to it looking like the UFC fighter has defrauded his fans.
In July 2024, Khamzat Chimaev went onto X and shared a video promoting a crypto coin called SMASH. This coin was named after the undefeated superstar. This decision was not a surprise due to many athletes, influencers and celebrities promoting crypto in recent years. However, it did become clear that something wasn’t quite right with this. Crypto Sleuth ZachXBT discovered that 78% of the coin supply had been purchased by insiders. Within 24 hours, the value of this coin would go on to drop in value by 96%. This left early adopters with nothing, apart from a whole load of frustration.
Khamzat Chimaev Places Blame on Manger
Since the controversy started happening, Khamzat Chimaev has gone on to delete everything that tied him to the coin. However, it wasn’t until a recent interview with Aslanbek Badaev that he would go on to address the accusations head-on. However, he placed the blame on his manager for simply trusting the wrong people. During his interview Khamzat explained;
“Well, my manager… you can say acted stupidly and I also made a mistake in this crypto. I don’t understand [crypto] at all, I trust my manager. You could say I asked people if I could trust them, my people said I can trust them. Make this video, like any other athlete, probably doesn’t know what crypto is and how it works. I don’t know for sure. I don’t even have time to look at what it is.” He continued by saying;
“I made a video and then made an advertisement as they told me and that they will send me money. Well, these people are also lost now. We are looking for them. One was found. They forced him to make a video [explaining] that it’s their fault. We will find the others too and we’ll make them apologize for it.“
Khamzat Chimaev’s manager, Majdi Shammas, had already gone on to take full responsibility for putting his fighter’s name on the scam. However, did make it clear that Chimaev was in no way involved in any attempt to commit fraud.
Khamzat Chimaev was meant to headline the UFC Saudi Arabia card in June 2024. However, the undefeated prospect was forced to bow out after becoming “violently ill” due to an undisclosed illness. Khamzat Chimaev is already making plans to return to the octagon at UFC 308. This is meant to happen in October when the UFC makes its annual pit stop in Abu Dhabi. However, currently, nothing has been officially announced.
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