'Bones' in Chechnya
From attending Kadyrov’s heir’s 18th birthday and testing rocket launchers to fake real estate deals, former UFC champ Jon 'Bones' Jones proved eager to play the sanctioned strongman’s stooge.
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Last week, Adam Kadyrov—the 18-year-old son of Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov—came of age under Russian law. To mark the milestone, Kadyrov hosted a lavish party attended by Chechnya’s elite, including the teenager’s glorified babysitter, UFC welterweight champion Khamzat Chimaev.
Also present as a guest of honour was Jon Jones, former two-division UFC champion and widely regarded as one of the organization’s greatest fighters.
In a video shared on Kadyrov’s social media channels, Jones can be seen partying alongside his Chechen hosts. He danced the traditional Lezginka folk dance and posed for photo-ops that make up part of the ritual that fighters undergo when they visit Chechnya at Kadyrov’s behest. Footage also showed Jones playfully grappling with Kadyrov during their first encounter and testing out rocket launchers and machine guns with the warlord’s heirs.
Adam, who heads his father’s security department and oversees the Chechen Interior Ministry, has a history of inviting his favourite fighters to attend his birthday. In 2022, a trio of former UFC champions—Henry Cejudo, Justin Gaethje and Kamaru Usman—attended Adam’s birthday, where they were pictured testing out grenade launchers and assault rifles at the Russian Special Forces University in Chechnya. The facility is used to train Russia’s special forces units, including those participating in the war, and is currently supervised by Adam himself.
While it was the first time that Cejudo or Gaethje had accepted such an invitation from Kadyrov, it was the third time that Usman had visited Chechnya since 2020. In previous trips, the former UFC welterweight champion also took part in sparring sessions with Kadyrov’s teenage sons, including Adam.
Beyond his association with world class MMA fighters, Adam has courted controversy by getting married before reaching legal age and for assaulting Nikita Zhuravel, a Russian prisoner accused of burning the Holy Qur’an. Graphic footage showed pummelling his defenceless victim with a series of knees and punches reminiscent of techniques used in MMA (Adam was trained by former UFC fighter Abdul-Kerim Edilov, who was later exterminated by Kadyrov’s henchmen once he fell out of favour). Zhuravel, who was in Chechen custody at the time, cowered in the fetal position with little choice but to endure the attack. The Kremlin, meanwhile, refused to condemn Adam’s actions.
Zhuravel’s beating underscored the nepotistic power structures in Chechnya, a semi-autonomous republic in the North Caucasus region which Kadyrov has ruled with an iron grip for 18 years. Kadyrov has been accused of assassinations, abductions, torture, extrajudicial killings, and brutal crackdowns that specifically targeted the local LGBTQ+ community. He is also a staunch ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has deployed thousands of his troops to fight on the front lines of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, including fighters affiliated with his Akhmat MMA fight club.
Sports in the North Caucasus region are not just used for entertainment purposes, but for political gain and the strategic realization of particular ambitions. For Kadyrov, athletes are versatile tools used to whitewash crimes and human rights abuses, exercise control over a population and even as a sports socialization tactic to impose a fabricated model of Chechen machismo. By exposing his sons to elite fighters like Chimaev and Jones, Kadyrov was grooming them as suitable heirs to his regime—a vital step given the persistent rumours of Kadyrov’s ill health.
During the few seconds that Kadyrov and Jones grappled on video, Kadyrov looked visibly fatigued and out of breath, marking a significant deterioration from the Instagram-ready workout videos he was once famous for. Prior to that, Kadyrov also appeared weak and frail and he greeted Chimaev at the airport after winning the UFC welterweight title. Independent Russian media have reported in recent months that Kadyrov is grooming Adam as his successor and exploring legal or political avenues to transfer power. However, Russian law does not allow government positions to be passed directly to family members.
As for Jones, he eagerly embraced his role as propagandist for Kadyrov’s regime. He tested rocket launchers at the Russian Special Forces University, which prepares soldiers for the frontlines in Ukraine. He praised Chechnya and Kadyrov’s rule in interviews with local media, prompting the warlord to post on social media that he was “sincerely grateful to him for visiting the Chechen Republic!” He even posed as a prospective buyer of Chechen real estate, posing for photos and videos inside a brand new apartment and looking over brochures. According to NIYSO, a Chechen opposition movement, Jones was used to fool Chechens into investing in the new developments.
“Apparently, the sale of apartments in the new district is not going as successfully as the occupying authorities would like,” read NIYSO’s statement on Telegram. “The completion of construction largely depends on sales figures. Therefore, all methods are being used. Instagram is already flooded with dozens of realtors trying to sell apartments in Grozny to any buyers. And the news about Jones, by design, is supposed to motivate others to take this (extremely foolish) step.”
Despite his status as arguably the greatest fighter to compete in the UFC, Jones’ legacy is marred with arrests and legal incidents. The former UFC champion was charged with a DWI in 2012 after smashing his Bentley into a utility pole in New York. Then, in April 2015, Jones was involved in a felony hit-and-run where he fled the scene after hitting a pregnant woman’s car. The woman had sustained injuries from the accident, but, according to witnesses, Jones fled the scene after shoving cash in his pockets. Despite facing 18 months in jail for the felony, Jones avoided jail time and instead received 18 months of supervised probation.
Unfortunately for Jones, his problems did not end there. While on probation for his felony charge in 2016, Jones was stopped in Albuquerque and given five tickets, including one for drag racing. The well-documented incident was captured on body cam footage.
Then, in October 2019, Jones took a plea deal after pleading no contest to disorderly conduct in an incident with a cocktail waitress at a strip club. He had originally pleaded not guilty to a charge of battery after being accused of kissing and choking the waitress before slapping her in the genital region.
Hours after the Hall of Fame induction in 2021, Jones is arrested in Las Vegas and charged with misdemeanor battery domestic violence and injuring or tampering with a vehicle, a felony. The charges were dropped after Jones agrees go to plead nolo contendere to a misdemeanor charge of destroying the property of another.
Beyond his string of arrests and concerning legal incidents, Jones has also failed two separate drug tests administered by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), which facilitates testing for the UFC. He was suspended on both occasions.
While Jones is technically retired, the former champ has been angling for a spot on the UFC White House event next year. In the meantime, he decided to pass the time in Chechnya, where he was likely paid handsomely for his services.
“Who foots the bill for all this?” asked NIYSO in one of their posts on Jones’ visit. “Of course, it’s paid from the budget and the pockets of ordinary Chechens. Jones, like those before him, would never have come to Grozny if he hadn’t been offered a huge sum of money.”
Jones made sure Kadyrov got his money’s worth. During his meeting with the warlord in his Grozny palace, he leaned toward the translator between them and said: “Anything [Kadyrov] needs from me while I’m here, I’m all yours.”
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Great work as always Karim.