'You're rich and still try to scam your fans': Sean Strickland accuses UFC fighter Khamzat Chimaev of huge crypto scam

UFC contender and former champion Sean Strickland has accused popular fighter Khamzat Chimaev of scamming his fans using a cryptocurrency coin.

Chimaev, a popular fighter known for dominating performances, was entrenched in accusations of a cryptocurrency scam using a coin called Smash.

The allegations, according to BJPenn.com, were that Chimaev performed a pump-and-dump scheme and came away with more than $1 million.

In similar cases, content creators or celebrities use their reach to promote a particular cryptocurrency that they own a large percentage of, and when fans and followers purchase shares of the coin, the person — usually the celebrity or his team — sells a large amount of the currency at a much higher value than when he purchased it.

'I've been offered a ton of money to do this same exact thing.'

Reputable outlet CoinMarketCap reported that a well-known investigator in the space revealed that developers had purchased over 70% of the coin's supply.

"Using timing analysis confirms 71% insider and dev team wallets are directly linked as they were funded by same address on Ethereum."

Market trading statistics showed that the value of the coin increased about sixfold on June 8, 2024.

Chimaev's manager reportedly denied any connection to the coin after accusations started pouring in.

"I was approached by a group claiming to be fans of my client Khamzat Chimaev. They wanted to record a short video promoting their launch. So I agreed to that, nothing more, nothing less. Maybe I was misled. Khamzat wasn't involved and know[s] just as little as you do. So the news is really unpleasant and I’m seeking an explanation from those responsible. My apologies to Khamzat and all others of you affected by this, if I could have done anything differently. Thank you for your understanding, I'll keep you updated."

Chimaev indeed recorded a short video promoting the coin in question.

Following the manager's statements, a man claiming to be involved in the crypto team for the Smash coin clarified that he never spoke directly to Chimaev but admitted to the team owning 80% of the coin's supply.

The video was posted on Chimaev's X page.

“Regarding the supply, yes, we sniped 80%of the supply, and we still own almost 80% of the supply. We did not sell, we were not the cause of the major downfall that happened in the token," he claimed. "Everything is public, you can track all wallets. There is no scam that has been happening. It's simply people that bought early that sold very late and took profits, and not us. Neither is it Khamzat's team nor us who caused that."

About 12 hours after the video was posted, UFC contender Strickland began accusing his fellow fighter of scamming fans.

"I've been offered a ton of money to do this same exact thing...... Crazy man you're rich and still try to scam your fans," he wrote.

"That was 100 percent to scam his fans," Strickland continued. "How do I know this?!? I was just approached to do this same thing... [integrity] you either have it or you don't. Yall shouldn't let this vanish in a news cycle. Absolutely wrong."

Chimaev has yet to directly respond to the accusations.

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