MMA fighter Timur Khizriev, the 2024 featherweight champion of the Professional Fighters League (PFL), is hospitalized after being shot five times last night in the city of Makhachkala, Dagestan.
Two masked men ambushed Khizriev in the courtyard of a residential building. As he exited his car, the attackers opened fire. The athlete was hit by five bullets fired from a traumatic pistol. Khizriev underwent surgery; he is alive and out of danger.
For clarification, a traumatic pistol is a type of non-lethal weapon that fires ammunition such as rubber bullets or less-lethal projectiles, and is mainly used for self-defense or riot control.
Khizriev’s management agency stated that “he is currently hospitalized, but in stable condition and 'his life is not in danger.’”
Khizriev (with a record of 18 wins and no losses) won the 2024 PFL season featherweight championship title with four victories that year. He ended the season by defeating former PFL champion Brendan Loughnane by unanimous decision—winning a prize of NIS 1,000,000 and the title. For an unknown reason, he was not scheduled for the 2025 featherweight tournament.
Although it was a “non-lethal pistol,” it is obviously still a powerful and very dangerous weapon, as evidenced by the fact that he was hospitalized with injuries and underwent surgery. Nevertheless, martial arts fans watched in awe as the tough fighter, undeterred by the shooting, fought the robbers, drove them away, and even managed to run afterward—despite being seriously injured and bleeding.