UFC star Khamzat Chimaev has found himself caught in a whirlwind of allegations surrounding his promotion of the ‘Smash’ crypto token! ‘Borz’ recently pulled out of his UFC Saudi Arabia clash against Robert Whittaker prompting UFC CEO Dana White to state in an interview on ‘The Jim Rome Show’, “Lately it’s been hard to get him into the Octagon. Every time he gets close to fighting, he gets really sick.”

But his health issues and a possible return to competition have now been overshadowed by the recent allegations of Chimaev participating in a ‘crypto rug pull’ on social media. The Solana-based ‘memecoin’ was named after Chimaev’s catchphrase but alarms bell started ringing when its value dramatically dropped just a day after the push from the UFC star. As such, former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland has come out to blast ‘Borz’ and his team’s response to the situation.

Sean Strickland reveals he was offered the same deal as Khamzat Chimaev’s crypto coin debacle  

Khamzat Chimaev took to social media to encourage his followers to purchase the ‘Smash’ token and his endorsement significantly increased the token’s value to 0.01 SOL, approximately 1.35 US dollars. However, less than a day later after Chimaev’s promotion, it was reported that the token lost over 91% of its value and dropped down to approximately $0.53 per token or 0.004 SOL.

This sudden sell-off raised suspicions, with investigators leveling accusations against Chimaev of orchestrating a pump-and-dump scheme. According to crypto investigator ZachXBT, “Yesterday, Khamzat Chimaev and his team dropped a cryptocoin called Smash and made multiple videos promoting it to his followers, and in under 24 hours, he rugs the coin and steals up to $1,000,000 from his fans that invested in his coin ”

In a recent video shared on X by Chimaev, a member of the team behind the coin released a statement addressing the allegations surrounding the entire affair as he stated, “We just want to make it clear that we were never in direct contact with Khamzat and Khamzat has no direct involvement with the token whatsoever.”

The representative also admitted that the team held 80% of the token’s supply but insisted they did not sell, attributing the crash to early buyers cashing out. “You can track all the wallets; there was no scam,” the spokesperson said, maintaining that neither Chimaev nor his team caused the downfall.

Amidst the controversy, Sean Strickland added his opinion on the situation in a post on X as he stated, “I’ve been offered a ton of money to do this same exact thing…… Crazy man you’re rich and still try to scam your fans……..” and in a subsequent post, he further elaborated his stance by stating, “I was just approached to do this same thing… tegrity you either have it or you don’t. Yall shouldn’t let this vanish in a news cycle. Absolutely wrong”

While the rapid devaluation of the token and the subsequent backlash have certainly caused a stir, it is important to note that investigations are ongoing, and no definitive conclusions have been drawn. As the situation develops, Khamzat Chimaev’s manager has also released a statement addressing the situation.

Chimaev’s manager claims ‘Borz’s team was “misled” in crypto token promotion

After the considerable backlash surrounding ‘Borz’s promotion of the ‘Smash’ token, the posts in question have now since been removed from Khamzat Chimaev’s social media accounts. The UFC star’s manager, Majdi Shammas has recently addressed the allegations surrounding the affair in a post on X where he stated, “I was approached by a group claiming to be fans of my client Khamzat Chimaev. They wanted to record a short video promoting their launch. So I agreed to that, nothing more nothing less. Maybe I was misled.”

Shammas continued by claiming that Chimaev wasn’t involved in the affair and, “My apologies to Khamzat and all others of you affected by this, if I could have done anything differently. Thank you for your understanding, I’ll keep you updated.”

In conclusion, while the situation remains under scrutiny, the statement by Chimaev’s manager has emphasized ‘Borz’s innocence and his position with the token’s promotion and the subsequent fall-out. What are your thoughts on Khamzat Chimaev’s team’s response to the allegations? Let us know in the comments below!