Trouble ensued to close out a recent podcast featuring two rising prospects.
Held in Moscow, Russia, and reportedly recorded on Aug. 21, 2022, per Bloody Elbow, the Ratings Brothers were joined by Lightweight and Welterweight fighters, Shovkhal Churchaev and Mohammad Heibati. The two are expected to be competing against each other sometime in the future.
The majority of the one-hour-long conversation was civil until the very end as Churchaev suddenly stood up and began punching Heibati to the ground. Heibati can be seen looking up as the podcast hosts attempted to maintain order before Churchaev appeared to pull out and point a gun at his foe. In the video embedded and timestamped above, Churchaev’s hands are blurred out but Heibati has since alleged the weapon to be a firearm.
“The Iranian ambassador contacted me and invited me to his place,” Hebati said. “We talked to him, I told him what happened. Now the Iranian ambassador wants to resolve this issue. A person is threatened with a gun, this is no longer a trash talk.”
In the case that law enforcement chooses to press charges against Russia’s Churchaev (5-1), he could face up to two years in prison. Churchaev has also upset Chechen dictator, Ramzan Kadyrov, with his actions as he intends to impose punishment for his “inappropriate behavior,” reports Bloody Elbow.
Obviously, depending on how things turn out following the incident, it may or may not impact the fight between both men. For Iran’s Heibati (4-1), the fight will act as his rebound attempt after suffering his first career defeat against Maxim Divnich in May 2022.