Khamzat Chimaev has heard Colby Covington’s complaints about their RAF grappling match being booked in Abu Dhabi, and his response was to laugh. In a clip posted by MMA Fighting on X early Thursday, Chimaev made it clear the venue debate means nothing to him.
“I don’t care if he’s happy or not,” Chimaev said. “I’m happy to beat him and finally get him.”
The clip doesn’t lay out the details of Covington’s objections, only that he isn’t thrilled with the location. Covington has been one of RAF’s more prominent crossover names. MMA Fighting’s Morning Report this week included a rankings item noting that he stands tall on the promotion’s crossover list. RAF has been leaning hard into MMA talent. Its RAF 14 card is headlined by Arman Tsarukyan against Dillon Danis in a wrestling match, according to MMA Fighting’s Between the Links preview.
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Abu Dhabi is also the center of the fight calendar this weekend. UFC 333 goes down Saturday at Etihad Arena on Yas Island, with Alexander Volkanovski (28-4) defending featherweight gold against unbeaten Movsar Evloev (20-0) and Petr Yan (20-5) meeting Merab Dvalishvili (21-3) in a bantamweight trilogy.
Chimaev’s busy news cycle
Covington wasn’t the only opponent getting needled. In a separate interview flagged by @DovySimuMMA via Red Corner MMA, Chimaev said he would pay Sean Strickland $1 million out of his own pocket if Strickland accepts a rematch by the next day. In the same interview he called Strickland’s injuries “bullsh*t.” ESPN reported that Chimaev believes he should still be the UFC’s middleweight champion, and that his message to Strickland is simple: if Strickland wants a big payday, he should take the rematch.
So in a single day Chimaev waved off one rival’s venue complaints and tried to buy a fight with another. Busy guy.
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The grappling numbers explain why Chimaev sounds so relaxed about a pure grappling contest. His 60.4 percent takedown accuracy in UFC middleweight competition is the second-highest rate in divisional history, behind only Makhmud Muradov’s 66.7 percent, per UFC stats cited in MMA Junkie’s UFC 333 pre-event facts. That figure comes from MMA, where opponents can punch you for shooting badly. Take the strikes away and the wrestling gets more direct.
Quick take
I get why Covington would want a neutral room, but carpet doesn’t care where it’s laid. A grappling match is decided by hand fighting, head position and who still has a gas tank when the scramble starts. No crowd changes those things, and no flight does either. Chimaev’s line that he’s going to “finally get him” tells you this one has been sitting with him for a while. If Covington wants to win the argument, the way to do it is to stuff the first three shots and make Chimaev chain his entries in a long match. Complaining about the zip code won’t get that done.
