A martial-arts star’s comeback is a boost for Chechnya’s dictator

HE VOWS TOMMAMMA “smash the faces” of his “chicken” foes and floored his last victim with one punch. Chechen-born Khamzat Chimaev, known as the (“wolf”), fights as ferociously as his nickname suggests. He was one of the world’s hottest mixed-martial arts () stars in 2020, before being laid low by a tough opponent: a brutal bout of covid-19. He considered retiring, but was dissuaded—not by his coach or sponsors, but reportedly by Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya’s ruler. In July Mr Chimaev announced that, after a year-long break, he is training for a fight in October.Mr Kadyrov controls everything in the Russian republic, from dress codes to religious practices. He crushes dissenters, but loves combat sports and builds gyms for his subjects to punch and grapple. At bouts in his arena in Grozny, the capital, he hollers, whoops and embraces the winners.