Undefeated UFC fighter Khamzat Chimaev is finally recovering from his illness after visiting the hospital for supposed food poisoning. He was supposed to fight Robert Whittaker at UFC fight night in Saudi Arabia. However, ‘Borz’ had to withdraw from the fight at the last moment and fans were very disappointed. The middleweight powerhouse is now recovering, but there is a new problem for him. The Chechen fighter is in hot waters with a crypto-related scam where he is the victim of a pump and dump scene.

Amidst the criticism, the fighter’s manager Majdi Shammas came forward to declare that he and his client, Chimaev, did not know about the whole fiasco and he was charging for an explanation from the responsible party. Shammas wrote on X, “I want to comment on the recent reports on the SMASH meme coin. I was approached by a group claiming to be fans of my client Khamzat Chimaev… I’m seeking an explanation from those responsible. My apologies to Khamzat and all others of you affected by this, if I could have done anything differently. I appreciate your understanding, I’ll keep you updated.”

The middleweight champ has not entered the octagon in the last 9 months and since then he has developed a new interest in cryptocurrency. He was promoting his meme coin and a few days ago the fighter had asked his fans which crypto would be best for investment. The 30-year-old then took the strategy of most celebrities and urged his fans to purchase his theme coin named SMASH coined after his famous technique of smashing his opponents.

However, the fans who were early buyers of the crypto experienced a zero fall on Friday and lost their money. This enraged the fans and now the latest development also made them angry.

Fans slam Majdi Shammas for defending Khamzat Chimaev

After the price fall happened, the MMAPACK Instagram page posted, “UFC middleweight Khamzat Chimaev is getting exposed for pumping and dumping a crypto coin yesterday and taking over $1 million.” GekoTerminal also showed that the token was down by 96% and the buyers lost their investment. The developments resulted in Chimaev taking down all the videos where he promoted the coin. However, as people fell prey to the scam and ended up losing their money, they lambasted the manager for his ‘being misled’ excuse. 

One fan wrote, “Lack of due diligence is not an excuse,” while another social media user offered a redemption saying that Shammas should, “Bring them to account in broad daylight, so the public can have justice.” The manager took all precautions to explain the situation to the fans, but since Chimaev had deleted all the videos he uploaded for promotion, it made the fans more doubtful. One follower wrote, “Scamming,” while another explained, “No one’s going to believe this unfortunately many have tried this tactic.”

After 24 hours of the launch of the crypto, there was a huge sell-off resulting in SMASH having a 91% of its value to 0.004 SOL per token. Memecoins are known to be volatile, but people who investigated the blockchain of the coin are accusing Khamzat Chimaev of giving a pump and dump. However, one follower trusted him and said, “I believe Khamzat has nothing to do with it, and I’m not a big Khamzat fan.”

Another netizen criticized the move of the manager and wrote, “There are only pages that want to spread fame after mentioning the name of Hamzat Chimaev and speak badly about him. They are disreputable pages. I hope Chimaev returns to the fight quickly and silences some of the haters. I hope he returns quickly.” Many others also slammed the manager as one person took a sarcastic jibe saying, “Sure thing buddy .. Sure thing ..”

There seems to be a clear divide in the fans where some believe Chimaev, whereas others do not. At present, the middleweight champ is working towards his health while also tackling this crypto fiasco. Do you think he can get back into action soon? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.