UFC lightweight contender Justin Gaethje has slammed accusations that he has ties to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov as "slander".
The former interim champion and twice undisputed title contender was recently pictured on a visit to Chechnya testing out guns with fellow fighters at a facility in Gudermes. Kadyrov is not present in the photos, but reporter Karim Zidan has claimed that he was in the Chechen Republic with former world champions Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo at his invitation.
Gaethje recently found himself in a Twitter war of words with Barstool Sports boss Dave Portnoy, after disagreeing over the controversial judges' decision in Paddy Pimblett's latest win over Jared Gordon. Pimblett, who is sponsored to the tune of a seven-figure sum by Barstool, won a close three round decision on Saturday night, with countless people disagreeing across social media.
The No.3 UFC lightweight responded to a video of Portnoy celebrating Pimblett's win at cageside over the weekend by saying "This makes the Barstool guys look really bad. Just bending over for the lad. Fight of the night? Barstool can give him 50k but that performance will never get you a bonus in the octagon."
Portnoy took issue with Gaethje's assessment of the clip, and made one of his trademark snipes in response, quoting the tweet and writing: "People are telling me Justin Gaethje was recently seen hanging out with a warlord accused of brutal crimes against humanity so its hypocritical for him to say we look bad for supporting Paddy when he supports a warlord. I’m gonna take high road and not mention it. #Daveyhighroad."
Gaethje took issue to Portnoy's tweet, and replied twice in quick succession to shut down the implied suggestion that he had a relationship with Kadyrov. He first hit back by saying "That’s an outright lie and slander. #davesab****," before seconds later adding "Never met the guy. Go f*** yourself." When a fan shared a picture of his visit, he replied "that was fun".
The fighter continued to implore fans on social media who were responding to he and Portnoy's back-and-forth to show proof that he had ever met Kadyrov. Multiple users shared Zidan's tweet with photos of him "testing out guns" at a facility in Chechnya, to which he explained that he was there "for the kids birthday party," as well as because "likes to shoot guns".
Portnoy added to his exchange with Gaethje with a cheeky message that read: "I said people are saying it. I intentionally didn’t say it. I took the high road. But the entire internet/world are saying it. I won’t post where I saw it." The fighter posted and deleted a tweet saying: "I might take the high when I see you at one of these events."
Kadyrov, who is known to have a considerable influence on MMA not just in the region but worldwide, has received backlash from LGBT groups around the world for leading anti-gay purges in Chechnya, as well as imposing misogynist policies in the Republic. He is also known as a close ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
