In the elegant 90s, it was believed that if a person is engaged in any type of martial arts, he is a priori related to criminal structures. It was the former and current athletes who made up the so-called “brigades”, from which concepts such as “arrow” and “mafioso” emerged.
But this could be explained by the fact that all types of martial arts clubs carried out their activities in a semi-legal position, which is why problems arose with constant income for representatives of different types of martial arts.
In the modern world the situation has changed. First of all, everything became legal and, in addition to amateur competitions, many opportunities arose to earn a living commercially, mainly with sports skills. Secondly, professional wrestlers have appeared who make a living exclusively from the sport. There was no longer a need to participate in anything for the sake of food.
Photo source: Khusein Askhabov’s social networks.
However, even now there are cases where no, no, and those turbulent years are remembered. Khusein Askhabov, a 28-year-old Chechen MMA fighter, who debuted (unsuccessfully) in the UFC in February 2023, along with his twin brother Khasan Askhabov, were caught red-handed at a Thai resort in Phuket. They broke into the house of an Italian businessman and began to mock the unfortunate man, torturing him to confess where he kept the money.
As a result, in addition to the stolen valuables, including 40,000 euros taken from the Italian’s card, expensive Rolex, Patek Philippe and Graf watches, new iPhones and MacBooks, the bandits did not disdain even the sunglasses and passport of the victim. The Italian, judging by the images from the surveillance cameras, managed to escape. He contacted the police and wrote a statement, and also took multiple torture injuries to the hospital.
Everything would be fine, but the local Thai press from the city of Phuket, in its article about this incident, says that along with the Chechen brothers there were also some citizens of Kazakhstan who, unlike the Russians, managed to escape. In addition, Chechen Russians now belong to France (they have French citizenship), but it is very convenient to call them “Russians”.
