So Khamzat Chimaev, a Chechen wrestler, became UFC Champion
So Khamzat Chimaev, a Chechen wrestler, became UFC Champion
So congratulations to him - I've been rooting for him since he took down Kevin Holland with unrelenting wrestling. But I was browsing R*ddit which was my first mistake and major sin. But people are speculating, which I found interesting, about Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the Chechen Republic, having Khamzat under his thumb. There was video of Kadyrovtaking the UFC belt. They were speculating that, if Khamzat said anything the warlord would have his family killed. There's shit like this video of them sparring. This is, of course, before his "I have no enemies" arc (not important in the scope of this chat) where he was more of a hothead because it happened before his kill everybody interview (1:30 of the segment).. So I always found it weird.
But then, I suppose the point of this whole thing that I wanted to get at was why is Kadyrov such a dangerous seeming guy? How did he get there? I hear that there's a wary respect for him because the Chechen people faced genocide a the hands of Russia for the last 90 years - meaning it went back to the USSR, so as long as a strong Russian-Chechen general in Kadyrov is around they get protection. And so I know nothing of it - I see Kadyrov's wikipedia page and some shit about his dad being a separatist who sided with Putin in the second Chechen war which is rough because I didn't know there was a first one.
So displacement during WW2? Collaboration with Nazis? Chechen wars? What were they cooking?