Russian MMA fighter Akmal Khozhiev, who calls himself the “Unvaccinated Assassin,” is charged with murder after he choked and stabbed to death a doctor during an argument over coronavirus vaccines in his home November 7, according to police. After beating the doctor in the head and choking him, Khozhiev allegedly stabbed him to death in the neck with bones left over from the dinner they shared before the argument. Khozhiev also allegedly used a knife in the attack.
According to reports, Dr. Miran Ribati, a 44-year-old radiologist, had hired 27-year-old Khozhiev, a 3-1 pro fighter who had his most recent bout in 2020, to train him in MMA. Robati had joined Khozhiev, along with the fighter’s mother and sister, for dinner at Khozhiev’s apartment in Tamuning, Guam, when the argument became violent.
“I don’t trust you anymore,” Khozhiev reportedly told Robati, then “started choking Dr. Ribati after wrapping both arms around his neck before a witness intervened.” Khozhiev reportedly hit the woman who tried to break up the fight. The MMA fighter has been charged with aggravated murder, aggravated assault, use of a deadly weapon, strangulation, felonious restraint, assault, and family violence.
When Guam Police Department arrived on the scene they found Ribati face down in a pool of his own blood. Khozhiev reportedly told police, “Sir, it’s me, it’s me, I killed him.”
Video shows Khozhiev’s arrest:
Khozhiev is married and has a baby son. The fighter’s former employer at Steel Athletics, J.J. Ambrose, told a Guam radio station he had to terminate Khozhiev after he become increasingly violent and was threatening towards customers. Khozhiev “was such a great person – until he wasn’t,” Ambrose, a Bellator MMA and KOTC veteran, told the radio show:
We did everything we possibly could to warn people that AK wasn’t AK anymore. … It’s very hard ’cause I know when you’re friends with two people and those two people are on the outs, you don’t want to take sides. You want to ride in the middle. But in this case, AK seriously needed help, and that was the problem – that people were not trying to take sides, and he seriously needed help this whole time.
According to reports, Khozhiev ran a social media campaign against coronavirus vaccines, where he claimed the “vaccine is not working” and urged people to “mask off.” The fighter posted anti-vaccine posts on his Instagram account:
According to reports, Khozhiev was “born in Uzbekistan and with a Tajik father, studied at St Petersburg State University of Civil Aviation before working at the city’s Pulkovo airport.”
Colleagues of Ribati made a statement about the respected doctor:
It is with a heavy, shocked and saddened heart that the Guam Memorial Hospital Authority shares the passing of one of its esteemed physicians, Dr. Miran Ribati. Dr. Ribati was an Interventional Radiologist at GMHA, serving the community for over three years. His talents were undeniable and impeccable; his passion unparalleled; his accolades from patients in droves. He will be sorely missed among colleagues, staff and the entire Guam healthcare community.
Khozhiev is scheduled to appear in court November 19. He is currently being held in a Guam prison on $1 million bail.