Maxim Shvets, the former ProFC welterweight champion with a 19-4 record, now holds the post of sports minister of the Donetsk People's Republic. Shvets has not fought since 2021. In 2020 there were rumours he could become Khamzat Chimaev's second opponent in the UFC.
Maxim Shvets, the former ProFC welterweight champion, now serves as sports minister of the Donetsk People's Republic, according to a report dated November 8, 2026. The post marks a long step away from the cage for a fighter who retired from regular competition years ago.
Shvets compiled a 19-4 record and held the ProFC welterweight title. He has not fought since 2021, which means roughly five years have passed since his last appearance. That gap is the clearest sign his career in the sport is behind him.
His name once carried weight beyond the Russian regional scene. In 2020, rumours suggested Shvets could become the second UFC opponent for Khamzat Chimaev. The matchup never materialised, and nothing in the record shows the two meeting.
Chimaev, in the meantime, has gone on to the top of the sport. The 32-year-old, who represents the United Arab Emirates and trains at Allstars Training Center, is 15-1-0 and sits at number one in the middleweight rankings, with a number ten pound-for-pound placing. He captured the middleweight title with a unanimous decision over Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 319 on August 16, 2025, then lost it by split decision to Sean Strickland at UFC 328 on May 9, 2026, his most recent recorded fight and his first defeat.
Why it matters
- Shvets is one of several former regional champions whose careers have moved into public office or administration after leaving competition.
- The 2020 rumour shows how close he was once considered to the UFC's most heavily watched rising talent.
- Chimaev's numbers show what that opponent would have faced: 4.04 significant strikes landed per minute at 60 percent accuracy, plus 5.29 takedowns per 15 minutes.
Shvets' four losses and 19 wins left him with a winning percentage of about 83 percent, a solid mark for a regional titleholder. Chimaev's career arc since 2020, from prospect to champion and now to former champion with a title-fight loss on his record, underlines how different the two paths became.
The report does not detail when Shvets took the ministerial post or what his duties involve.
