Rising UFC star Khamzat Chimaev has hit a rough patch lately. First, illness forced him to withdraw from a highly anticipated fight against Robert Whittaker at UFC Saudi Arabia just weeks before the event. Then he found himself in hot water with fans for promoting an alleged pump-and-dump scheme involving his own meme coin, “SMASH,” named after his famous tagline, which duped his fans out of their money.

However, a member of the “SMASH” team working on the token has come forward to address the misunderstanding and clarify Khamzat Chimaev’s involvement in the alleged cryptocurrency scam.

Amidst the criticism from the global MMA community regarding his alleged advertisement of a scam business, Khamzat Chimaev remained silent. However, he recently broke his silence on the matter through a Twitter/X post. He shared a video with the caption, “I would like you to pay attention to this video and get answers to all your questions…”

A member of the ‘SMASH’ token addressed the controversy in a video, explaining the project as a fan community effort to honor Khamzat Chimaev. They emphasized a clear separation: “We want to make it clear that we were never in direct contact with Khamzat Chimaev, and he has no direct involvement with the token whatsoever.” He continued, explaining their interaction, “We were only in contact with his manager, to whom we sent the video of the Smash Token. We asked him to share them because it’s a fan token and it would be fun for the community and his fans. That’s why his manager agreed.”

Moreover, even before this clarification, Khamzat Chimaev’s manager, Majdi Shammas, came forward to declare their innocence, stating that neither he nor Chimaev knew anything about the whole fiasco.

Khamzat Chimaev’s team issued an apology

Khamzat Chimaev’s endorsement initially propelled the SMASH token, but within a day of its promotion, the price suffered a brutal sell-off, plunging over 90% to a mere $0.53 token (0.004 SOL). This dramatic downturn wasn’t your everyday crypto news. While Chimaev’s star power had initially drawn interest, a cloud of doubt was cast over the project’s legitimacy following an investigation by well-known crypto investigator ZachXBT.

Chimaev’s SMASH endorsement took a sharp turn to the south. Following a bombshell investigation, the promo video vanished from his channels. To contain the fallout, his manager, Majdi Shammas, scrambled to post an apology on Twitter/X. Shammas claimed he was duped by a group posing as Chimaev fans who pitched the coin. He then distanced himself, stating he was “seeking an explanation” from those responsible. Shammas concluded with an apology to Chimaev and anyone affected, acknowledging a possible lapse in judgment.

Furthermore, there is no official news of any involvement of law enforcement agencies regarding the investigation of the ‘SMASH token Khamzat Chimaev Chimaev and the Memecoin representative. If any development occurs in the story, we will keep you informed. Stay tuned.