Like a lot of other, Khamzat Chimaev too was surprised to see Khabib Nurmagomedov caught up in tax evasion charges. The UFC Hall of Famer allegedly had around 300 million roubles ($3.4 million) in unpaid taxes. As per the latest reports, he settled the account months after his several properties, including his family home, were seized and reportedly put on auction. Now, Chimaev has chimed in on the issue.

Khamzat Chimaev recently sat down for a chat with Adam Zubayraev on his YouTube channel and seemed visibly upset. Chimaev said, “Well, I didn’t really follow; I heard the guys say he has problems there. But I don’t know how reliable it is or how unreliable it is. Doesn’t make anyone happy, of course. Such an athlete definitely doesn’t make anyone happy. If an athlete has achieved something and competed for some country. Then he gives you such a hit. He’s being bothered, or his house is being taken away or something.” 

Khabib Nurmagomedov is, without a doubt, one of the most reputed fighters to ever fight in the UFC. So, when the news of tax evasion came out, many found it hard to believe. It is believed that the Dagestani fighter allegedly used his unpaid taxes to invest in start-ups and hotels in Turkey and the UAE. ‘The Eagle’ has reportedly closed some of his business firms, and the Russian Federal Tax Service has even frozen his bank accounts.

And to rub salt in his wounds, Conor McGregor stepped in with a personal taunt, offering to buy the seized family home. “Brotha I just put in to buy your family home off government because you can’t afford I plan on big smelly Irish s***,” he wrote to Nurmagomedov in a deleted social media post.

During such testing times, ‘The Eagle’ has found massive support from fans all around the world, including Khamzat Chimaev. He has reportedly settled his over $3 million tax debt by losing his family home and his collection of cars. While his reputation has faced a bit of dent, Khamzat Chimaev still has a lot of respect for him.

Chimaev is currently preparing for his clash against Robert Whittaker at UFC 308. The last few years have been very troublesome for the Chechen fighter, as he has faced many health problems. However, this time around, he has changed his training methods as he doesn’t want to miss another opportunity to fight.

Khamzat Chimaev has a new training plan for his fight against Robert Whittaker

Khamzat Chimaev had the entire world worried when he walked out of his last fight against Robert Whittaker. It was revealed that the middleweight fighter got “violently ill” and, therefore, pulled out of his clash. Chimaev is known to be one of the hardest-working fighters in the UFC and often overtrains in his fight camps. He has now learned from his mistake and is looking to make changes in his training plan before his next fight. Red Corner MMA recently released a video on their Instagram that showed Chimaev having a brief talk with his wrestling coach.

Chimaev’s coach pointed out that ‘Borz’ used to train till exhaustion in most of his camps, which was a completely wrong gameplan. The middleweight fighter agreed to the fact and said, “Three times in a row within three weeks. My immune system went down. I got sick.”

However, he then made it clear that he is now using a completely different approach this time around and said, “Now I use a better approach. I work with good coaches. Salim Noutsalkhanov raised a lot of world champions. He also trained Buvaisar Satiev for the Beijing Olympics. With people like that, I am going to take a big step forward.”

Hopefully, for the fans, Chimaev can turn up this time around and get back to winning ways. Are you excited to witness ‘Borz’ back in action at UFC 308? Will he finally feature in a fight in the UFC? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.