Khamzat Chimaev vs. Jorge Masvidal is apparently off. A thread on r/MMA posted Tuesday night said the submission-only grappling match, announced only a couple of days earlier, is no longer happening.
That is the entire report. Knockout Daily has not seen a named source, a reason for the cancellation, or a statement from either camp or from ALF League. Treat it as a strong rumor until somebody with a name and a phone number confirms it.
ALF League announced the match on Sunday. It was set to headline the promotion’s inaugural event on Dec. 4 at The Agenda in Dubai, according to MMA Fighting. If a new league loses its headliner within 48 hours of announcing it, that league has a problem.
How we got here
Chimaev has spent the back half of 2026 grappling instead of fighting. He lost the UFC middleweight title to Sean Strickland at UFC 328 in May. Since then he has wrestled four times for RAF and won all four, beating former UFC champions Robbie Lawler and Tyron Woodley, longtime welterweight contender Gilbert Burns, and Dillon Danis. The Masvidal match would have been his sixth non-MMA outing since the Strickland loss.
The fifth is still on the calendar. Chimaev headlines RAF Abu Dhabi against Colby Covington on Nov. 14.
Covington’s prep has been rocky. On Tuesday at Hype Fighting in Italy, Raul Rosas Jr. took him down, got to his back and finished him with a rear-naked choke 43 seconds into a 10-minute submission-only match. Rosas took that match on late notice after Danis withdrew. Covington offered no excuses afterward. “I just came out a little slow,” he said. “This is the first time I’ve done jiu-jitsu in years.” He also said he was looking forward to getting back to his wrestling for Chimaev.
The Strickland loss still follows Chimaev around. Michael Bisping was pitching Islam Makhachev for a run at 185 on his YouTube channel this week, and he brought up the Chimaev fight to make his point: “Khamzat [Chimaev] couldn’t beat Sean, but Islam wouldn’t get tired at 185, because that’s what Khamzat did.”
Masvidal has not been in the Octagon since 2023. His last competitive outing was a boxing match against Nate Diaz in July 2024, which he lost on the scorecards. That was a rematch of sorts, since Masvidal beat Diaz at UFC 244 to become the first BMF champion. He has teased an MMA comeback plenty of times since, though nothing has come of it so far.
What’s next
For Chimaev, it’s Covington in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 14. For Masvidal, nothing is booked. For ALF League, the Dec. 4 card in Dubai needs a main event.
My take: I liked this booking for the same reason I like most of what Chimaev does on the mat. A former champ who would rather grapple every few weeks than sit around waiting is good for business. A matchup reported dead by a Reddit thread with no source attached is not a story yet, though. If ALF League is smart, it confirms the status before Nov. 14. Chimaev will be standing across from Covington in Abu Dhabi that night, and the questions about Dubai are coming either way.
