After a trio of former UFC champions were criticized for visiting Chechnya at the behest of the republic’s tyrannical leader Ramzan Kadyrov, another UFC fighter recently claimed to have rejected a similar offer.
UFC bantamweight Sean O’Malley revealed during a recent episode of his Bromalley podcast that he turned down an invitation to attend a birthday party for the Chechen dictator’s son in November.
“The reason we really never ended up going was—who was this for? And we never really got an answer,” said O’Malley. “I’m like, ‘Fuck that.”
As reported by BloodyElbow, former UFC champ welterweight champ Kamaru Usman, former UFC flyweight champ Henry Cejudo, and former interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje were pictured testing firearms at the Russian Special Forces University in Chechnya last month.