How important Khamzat Chimaev’s title win was to Chechen Oktagon MMA star: “We played with bullets when we were children”

Khamzat Chimaev stands tall on the proverbial mountain of UFC’s middleweight class and hugely inspires upcoming fighters who came from the literal mountains of Chechnya. The Chechen MMA fighter in this context is Tamerlan Dulatov who will test skill with Henrique Melo at OKTAGON 78: Eckerlin vs. Trušček on October 18th.

Dulatov appeared on Bowks Talking Bouts and when he mentioned the name of Chimaev, the Chechnya compatriot dynamic seemed strong. When touching on what it meant to see Chimaev ascend to being the UFC middleweight champion as a fellow Chechen combatant, Dulatov said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],

“Brother, I swear I can’t even believe it, man. Still today I can’t believe it. It just happened. But man, a guy from Chechnya growing up somewhere in the mountains, man. You know, like there’s nothing, man. There’s no hope. There’s nothing, you know. We will grow up in wars, man. We played with bullets. I swear to God, we played with bullets when we were children, you know.”

“And this guy came from Chechnya, flew in as a refugee to Sweden, like growing up as a wrestler, man. Growing to the UFC 2020 and is champion 2025, man. With so many problems, with injuries. Man, the people don’t even respect it, 100%. Even people who give him the respect, it’s not enough. You know what I mean? Like this guy is such a beast, man.”

Khamzat Chimaev “controlled [Dricus du Plessis] on the ground like it’s nothing”, per Dulatov

As he kept expounding upon his admiration for Khamzat Chimaev as well as their personal connection, Dulatov continued [via Bowks Talking Bouts],

“What he did with this guy 20, 24, well 21-22 minutes, he controlled him on the ground like it’s nothing you know what I mean? I even think that Khamzat would finish him [Dricus du Plessis] but it was like such an important fight that he don’t take a risk, you know. Like to do more than is necessary, you know.”

“Brother, man, I love this guy. We are also in contact, you know. He’s like you said also Chechen. We talk to each other, you know, we also [congratulate] him and we are like; he is a very, very good guy, man. I like him.”