Khabib Nurmagomedov says speaking out about Palestine has cost him real money, and he’s not alone. The retired UFC lightweight champion claims he, current welterweight champion Islam Makhachev, and Usman Nurmagomedov have all lost sponsorship deals tied to their public statements on the situation in Gaza.

“For example, I am a famous athlete,” Khabib said in a video shared by streamer Sneako. “Can you imagine, when you post about them, you lose contracts, you lose sponsorships. Many sponsors they don’t want to work with some athletes who support Palestine. Not even support, just say something, they cancel contracts.”

He didn’t stop at himself.

“You think it not happen with me, or it doesn’t happen with Islam or Usman [Nurmagomedov]? It’s happened with us; we lost money too. But money compared to lives is nothing.”

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Khabib has used his platform to speak on Gaza consistently over the past two years. Makhachev has done the same, publicly criticizing Israel’s military actions on multiple occasions, including a video message sent to the European Muslim Forum. Usman Nurmagomedov, closely tied to the same Dagestani team, has been similarly outspoken.

For Khabib, that history makes silence feel impossible.

“My platform… like I have in the social media, it’s like biggest responsibility to at least to share with people,” he added in the interview. “Okay, you cannot do nothing, but just don’t be like quiet. But everybody watch, ‘Okay, this is bad’ and that’s it. They don’t do nothing. And this is honestly, this is very sad thing.”

His comments echo a bigger ambition he’s spoken about before. At a community event hosted by the Miftaah Institute in the United States, Khabib laid out a long-term vision for what he’d like to build in Gaza if the opportunity ever comes.

“One of my dreams in this life is for Palestinians to have their own country, build a beautiful airport in Gaza,” he told the crowd. “I’ll open my school there, Khabib Gym, bring some very good coaches, and train them. I believe many tough athletes are going to come from there, and they’re going to represent their beautiful country around the world.”

That kind of financial fallout over a controversial stance isn’t unique to Khabib’s situation, even if the circumstances behind it can look completely different case to case. Former interim champion Dustin Poirier recently found himself on the other side of that equation after his own controversial incident led to him losing out on several sponsors.

Dustin Poirier lost a major sponsorship almost ‘immediately’ after his arrest

Dustin Poirier found himself on the losing end of a sponsorship relationship for a very different reason this summer. He was arrested June 21 at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on a public intoxication charge, and Bud Light, a brand he’d represented publicly for years, cut ties almost as soon as the video went viral.

“They terminated my contract immediately,” Poirier told The Ariel Helwani Show, confirming what UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland had already hinted at publicly.

Poirier said the loss carried a real financial cost, with several hundred thousand dollars still remaining on the deal, but he didn’t push back on the decision.

“It’s all good,” he said. “I don’t need that f—ing poison in my life. It sucks that my family loses out on the money I had left on the deal with them, which is a few hundred thousand dollars. But also if I’m representing something, if I’m advertising something that I’m not going to be taking part in, promoting stuff, it’s just, it is what it is.”

“But also if I’m representing something, if I’m advertising something that I’m not going to be taking part in, promoting stuff — it’s just, it is what it is.”

Khabib and Poirier’s situations couldn’t be more different in substance, one over political speech, the other over personal conduct, but they land on the same lesson for fighters navigating sponsorship deals today: a brand relationship can end overnight once a company decides the association has become too costly, whatever the reason behind it. For Khabib, that tradeoff clearly isn’t enough to change how he uses his platform going forward.