This week, the billionaire who formerly backed Khabib Nurmagomedov’s MMA career was given a severe prison sentence.
After being found guilty of theft of public funds and criminal organization, 54-year-old Ziyavudin Magomedov was given a 19-year term in a high-security prison. The verdict was released on Thursday and determined that between them, Magomedov and his brother had stolen over 11 billion rubles (about $180 million) in land, real estate, and other agreements from the state.
In addition to losing his state honors, Magomedov was fined a total of 3.5 million rubles (about $41,000).
After amassing a fortune of $1.2 billion at the time of his arrest in 2018, the billionaire was once among Russia’s wealthiest men. He amassed his fortune as the creator of Summa Group, a privately held conglomerate having interests in the oil and gas industries as well as port logistics, engineering, construction, telecommunications, and more.
Magomedov was also a huge supporter of the Russian MMA industry and a huge fan of the sport. He had a monopoly on AMC Fight Nights, which was once the biggest promotion in the country. In addition, Nurmagomedov formed and was the first president of the Eagles mixed martial arts team, which no longer exists.
One of the Eagles MMA team’s executives, Denis Klopnev, was arrested in absentia for the attempted murder of sambo fighter Shamil Kuramagomedov, a bronze medalist at the 2017 Russian Combat Sambo Championship, less than six months after Magomedov’s imprisonment. As a result of being brutally beaten by a bunch of Eagles MMA and Summa Group fighters, Kuramagomedov was eventually arrested.
According to reports, Magomedov expressed interest in buying into the UFC in 2016, and he has since provided financial backing to other competitors, including Nurmagomedov. He covered almost all of Nurmagomedov’s camp costs and even paid for the former champion’s back surgery in Germany in 2017.
Some weeks before Nurmagomedov won the lightweight title at UFC 223, Magomedov was jailed. During his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, the new champion begged Russian president Vladimir Putin to “assist” Khabib Nurmagomedov.
”Our elder brother, co-owner of our team Ziyavudin Magomedov, is in a difficult situation,” Khabib said during UFC 223 PPV.
“He was very helpful to me and other athletes from Russia. Now he has problems, but I want him to know that we, the athletes, are praying for him. I believe that this situation will soon be resolved. I hope that our leader Vladimir Putin will help him. I want to congratulate him on the victory in the last election.”
