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On Sunday, gunmen launched a coordinated attack on churches and synagogues across two cities in Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim republic in Russia’s southern region.
The assailants set fire to a synagogue after shooting and killing the police officers who were guarding it. They also executed a Russian priest and attacked several police posts, resulting in the deaths of at least 15 law enforcement officers. The total number of civilian casualties remains unclear.
Videos posted by Dagestan’s interior ministry showed the militants causing chaos in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala, opening fire and forcing people out of their cars.
In the wake of the attack—the latest since four gunmen killed 145 people at a Moscow concert hall in March—at least five of the gunmen have reportedly been killed. Among them is Gadzhimurad Kagirov, a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter affiliated with former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) star Khabib Nurmagomedov and his late father Abdulmanap.
Kagirov, 28, was a master of sport (honorary title for successful athletes in Russia) in freestyle wrestling who transitioned to professional MMA after being coached by Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov. He accumulated a 2-0 pro record while representing Khabib’s Eagle MMA fight club, a training facility founded by jailed Dagestani oligarch Ziyavudin Magomedov.
Magomedov was known for financially supporting several prominent Dagestani fighters, including Nurmagomedov. The former oligarch paid for the former UFC lightweight champion’s back surgery in 2017 and funded the majority of Nurmagomedov’s expenses during training camps. He also launched a series of combat sports training facilities called Eagles MMA, which became home to some of Russia’s top talent. Khabib Nurmagomedov even served as the entity’s president for several years, while his father served as the head coach.
In March 2018, Magomedov was arrested along with his brother, Magomed, on charges of embezzlement in one of the highest-profile prosecutions of a Russian oligarchs in years. He was found guilty in 2022 of embezzling 11 billion rubles. Magamedov denied the charges against him, claiming that his arrest was the result of political persecution.
This is not the first time that Eagles MMA has been involved in criminal activity. Back in 2018, one of the club’s executives was arrested in absentia for the attempted murder of sambo fighter Shamil Kuramagomedov, a bronze medalist in the 2017 Russian Combat Sambo Championship. The arrest took place after a group of fighters affiliated to Eagles MMA and Magomedov’s Summa Group attacked Kuramagomedov and beat him within an inch of his life.
Nevertheless, Kagirov’s involvement in the terror attack underscores how Islamic extremism is spreading within combat sports spaces in the North. Caucasus, especially in Dagestan and Ingushetia. Back in 2014, Dagestan’s deputy Sports Minister Zainal Salautdinov revealed concerns that extremism was infecting the country’s gyms and sports halls.
“Dagestani athletes are falling under the influence of extremists in training camps, when they go to pray,” he said at the time.
Ironically, Abdulmanap, Kagirov’s former coach, was a leading advocate for using combat sports to combat extremism. He devoted his life to offering Dagestani youth alternatives to fundamentalism, something which I documented in an award-winning longform in 2016.
Abdulmanap’s son Khabib, however, has made some concerning choices in the past. Following his victory against Conor McGregor in 2018, Khabib was pictured in Dubai alongside Sagid Murtazaliev, a Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling who was accused of financing terrorism and is a suspect in several murders. He fled Russia and is currently wanted by the government. The former UFC champion also spoke out against nightclubs and risqué plays in Dagestan, which resulted in some of his followers issuing death threats to the various actors and rappers performing at these events.
Khabib, arguably one of the most popular Muslim athletes in the world who was also recently pictured shaking hands with Donald Trump, has since spoken out about the attack on social media.
“My condolences to all the relatives and friends of the victims, Nurmagomedov wrote on Instagram. “May Allah save us all from such situations and grant us a peaceful sky over our heads.
“Take care of yourself and your loved ones, and let everyone look around themselves and around their children with whom they interact with and who is around them.Educating souls is more important than educating bodies.”
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