Sports commentators treat "Akhmat"'s offer to Khabib as unprecedented

The royalty of USD 6 million has never been paid to fighters at Russian tournaments; a fight with such a budget is unlikely to pay off, sports commentators said in connection with the proposal to Khabib Nurmagomedov, a Dagestani fighter, made on behalf of the "Akhmat" Absolute Championship Club.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 13, Ramzan Kadyrov announced that he was ready to pay Nurmagomedov any remuneration for the victory over an "Akhmat" Club fighter. He also rebuked Khabib for fighting under the auspices of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), and not under the flag of Russia or Dagestan. Khabib ignored the challenge. Some Instagram users believe that Nurmagomedov has reacted cautiously to Kadyrov's statement, fearing to trigger a conflict.

USD 6 million is a unique royalty for a fight of two Russian athletes, said Vadim Fursov, an MMA (mixed martial art) commentator on Match TV.

Dmitry Remizov, a sports journalist, also believes that the broadcast of the fight will not bring as much money as the amount promised to Khabib. Besides, under the sanctions, broadcasting of the fight in Europe and the USA is hardly feasible.

For Chechnya, which is subsidized from the federal centre, such a royalty is a huge sum, Sergey Zhavoronkov, an expert on the economic policy, has noted. In his opinion, this money could be spent on the construction of a factory, a hospital or new housing.