Colby Covington is out of his RAF wrestling match with Khamzat Chimaev, and Chimaev wasted no time offering his own explanation. RAF announced Monday that former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman will replace Covington in the main event of RAF 14 this Saturday, Nov. 14, at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. The promotion didn’t say why Covington withdrew. Chimaev filled in the blank on X.
“Colbi is not coming, he is scared,” he wrote.
That’s the full post, misspelling included. MMA Fighting first reported the swap, and the RAF light heavyweight crossover championship will still be on the line with Weidman in the opposite corner.
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The matchup with Covington had real wrestling intrigue. The former UFC interim welterweight champion had won five straight in RAF before his recent loss to UFC bantamweight Raul Rosas Jr., who caught him in a rear-naked choke during a grappling match. Getting choked out by a bantamweight is a rough way to end a streak, and then having to wrestle Chimaev right after it would be a rough follow-up.
Chimaev, meanwhile, has been running through the RAF roster. He’s won four straight wrestling matches since June, beating Dillon Danis, Tyron Woodley, Gilbert Burns and Robbie Lawler. He’s doing all this while waiting on his next UFC booking. Chimaev sits No. 1 in the middleweight rankings behind champion Sean Strickland, and he told MMA Junkie’s Farah Hannoun over the weekend that he wants to fight soon and is waiting on the UFC to hand him an opponent. He also still doesn’t accept the Strickland result, telling Hannoun: “I didn’t lose the match (to Strickland). I am the real champion.”
Weidman takes the match on short notice with limited recent activity. His only RAF appearance came in May, when he lost a decision to Covington. Before that, his last competition was a grappling loss to Patrick Downey in mid-2025.
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The rest of the RAF 14 card is loaded with UFC names. Arman Tsarukyan faces Neiman Gracie, Merab Dvalishvili meets Marlon Moraes, Umar Nurmagomedov takes on Urijah Faber, and Zabit Magomedsharipov draws Giga Chikadze. On the pure wrestling side, Abdulrashid Sadulaev, Kyle Dake, Jordan Burroughs and Kyle Snyder are all on the lineup, and Julianna Peña wrestles Diana Avsaragova.
My take: Chimaev calling Covington scared is the most predictable post of the week. I also don’t think it’s entirely wrong. Covington just got choked by a 135-pounder, and the guy waiting for him has been flattening former UFC champions every few weeks since June. Weidman is a tougher spot than his recent results suggest, because he’s a real wrestler with a real double leg. But he lost a decision to Covington six months ago, and Chimaev has been chewing through the people Covington was supposed to be better than. I’ve got Chimaev, and I’d be surprised if Weidman spends much of Saturday anywhere other than his back.
