Coming from Chechnya, Khamzat Chimaev was the only fighter from his native region who had people talking in the UFC. But at UFC 319, the fans saw yet another emerging talent from Chechnya, Baisangur Susurkaev, who destroyed his opponent on his debut after four days of his Contender Series fight. However, fans suspect that Susurkaev may have another mission apart from making his name in the UFC.

Baisangur Susurkaev has been training with Khamzat Chimaev for years. During an interview, ‘Borz’ praised his training partner, claiming that “he’s the next champ.” Well, it seems like the middleweight champion is not the only UFC fighter he trains with, as he was recently seen sparring with yet another fighter, who’s a rival of Chimaev in the middleweight division. This fighter is the decorated former ONE double champion, Reinier de Ridder. The 24-year-old Chechen fighter was seen in videos that surfaced online, training with ‘RDR’, a man many consider to be Chimaev’s most dangerous potential rival.

While people could be wondering how these fighters are connected, there are speculations that Khamzat Chimaev’s teammate was training with ‘RDR’ for his upcoming fight against Eric McConico at UFC 322. The PPV is set for November 15, which will be headlined by former lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and the welterweight champion, Jack Della Maddalena. On the other hand, de Ridder could also be taking assistance from Susurkaev because of his upcoming fight against Brendan Allen at UFC Vancouver on October 18.

Well, after coming across the sparring footage of Baisangur Susurkaev and Reinier de Ridder, fans gave their take on X. And guess what? Most of these fans smell something fishy going on with Khamzat Chimaev. Here’s what they had to say.

Is Baysangur Susurkaev acting as a spy for Khamzat Chimaev? Fans share their theories

The first thing that came to a fan’s mind when he saw Susurkaev and Reinier de Ridder spar was the fact that it was “lowkey weird.” To substantiate that feeling, another fan reminded the masses about the 24-year-old’s connection to Khamzat Chimaev. He wrote, “Weird that’s Khamzat buddy.” It was then that a user on X suspected that maybe ‘Borz’ was trying to extract some information out of de Ridder’s camp, since there is a chance that they’ll meet each other inside the Octagon. “Khamzat’s spy,” the fan commented.

It is understandable that fans are suspecting something like this from Khamzat Chimaev. That’s because he recently gave the green light for Dana White to pick Reinier de Ridder as his next opponent over Nassourdine Imavov, saying, “Doesn’t matter same same.” This response came after ‘RDR’ expressed his desire to fight for the title. Keeping that in mind, another fan wrote, “That’s a trojan horse,” while pointing his finger at Baisangur Susurkaev.

Another fan mentioned his and Chimaev’s Chechen connection to Ramzan Kadyrov, believing that they’d try to help out as much as they can since that’s what the Chechen leader would want. “Even if Baisangur is not that kind of guy, there’s no way that Kadyrov doesn’t make him share some info with Chimaev,” he commented. Who’d blame him for thinking like that? After all, others were also shocked to see the 24-year-old train with Chimaev’s rival. But as one fan wrote, “I thought he was gourmet chenchen’s boi,” another fan claimed that this is not the first time these two fighters have worked together. “Guys, they’ve been training for months.”

Well, Reinier de Ridder has revealed to have trained with Khamzat Chimaev in the past, so seeing Baisangur Susurkaev train with him shouldn’t come as a surprise. But what do you think about this situation? Let us know in the comments section below.