MMA fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov, who just won the lightweight title of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), has posted a picture of Emmanuel Macron with a footprint on his face on Instagram after the French president vowed to step up efforts to curb Islamic radicalism in his country.
"May the Almighty distort the face of this creature and all its followers who offend the feelings of more than one and a half billion Muslim believers under the slogan of freedom of speech. May the Almighty humiliate them in this life, and in the next. Allah is quick in the calculation and you will see it", he wrote on Instagram.
Nurmagomedov, 32, emphasised that Muslims love the Prophet Muhammad more than "mothers, fathers, children, wives and all other people close to our hearts".
"Believe me, these provocations will come out sideways for them, the end is always for the God-fearing", he continued.
He also added a quote from the Holy Quran verse 33:57 which reads "Lo! those who malign Allah and His messenger, Allah hath cursed them in the world and the Hereafter, and hath prepared for them the doom of the disdained".
Instagram users have been left divided, with some defending Nurmagomedov's stance and praising him, while others have condemned his remarks, claiming the fighter was "supporting terrorism".
Former boxer Hanlar Azizov has supported Nurmagomedov, saying he was expecting such a post.
Russian public figure and former Russian presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak has also commented on the statement, saying Khabib's words "can be interpreted by millions of Muslims as a call for violence against Macron".
His reaction follows numerous condemnations from Islamic countries and communities across the world over comments made by Macron during a speech on radical Islam at a memory service of brutally killed French history teacher Samuel Paty by a radicalised teenager of Chechen origin. Paty was targeted and murdered after he showed cartoon drawings of Muhammad to his students during classes on freedom of speech.
In particular, French President Macron stressed that France would continue to defend freedom of speech, of which the cartoons were a manifestation, and pledged to step up efforts against extremism.
Nurmagomedov, born in Russia's Muslim-majority republic of Dagestan, is an MMA champion who announced his retirement last week after a victory over US fighter Justin Gaethje. He does not have a single loss on his MMA record.