Islam Makhachev became the latest UFC champion to be pictured alongside Ramzan Kadyrov after visiting the Chechen dictator last weekend.
After returning to Dagestan to a hero’s welcome last week, the newly crowned UFC lightweight champion made a special visit to Chechnya, where he met with Kadyrov—the tyrant facing U.S. sanctions for well-documented human rights abuses, including forced disappearances, torture, summary executions, and war crimes—for a photo-op with the championship belt.
Makhachev also posed with members of the Akhmat MMA fight club and ACA promotion, both of which are entities under U.S. Treasury sanctions.