Khamzat Chimaev Accidentally Leaks Colby Covington RAF Match in Abu Dhabi
Khamzat Chimaev let the next Real American Freestyle headline slip before the promotion was ready to sell it. Sitting at the RAF 13 press table, the former UFC middleweight champion pointed straight at Colby Covington and named a city.
“Colby isn’t in the UFC right now, so I think we’re gonna wrestle in Abu Dhabi,” Chimaev said.
He caught himself a beat later, smiled, and tried to put the lid back on. “Maybe I announced that too early, sorry guys.”
The clip, shared by RAF Wrestling USA, landed one day before Chimaev wrestles Gilbert Burns in the co-main event of RAF 13 at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables. Covington headlines the same card, defending the cruiserweight crossover title against Belal Muhammad.
Neither RAF nor Covington has posted an official announcement. There is no date, no weight, and no poster. Chimaev still made the match sound like a plan already in motion rather than a wish list.
That is the part that matters. The UFC version of this fight never happened, and both men have spent the past year talking around the same rivalry on a different mat.
Covington notified the UFC of his retirement in May and has treated RAF as his full-time stage since then. He is 4-0 in the promotion and won the inaugural crossover belt by beating Arman Tsarukyan in July.
Chimaev signed with RAF in April and has used the wrestling dates while his UFC picture stalled. He lost the middleweight title to Sean Strickland by split decision at UFC 328 in May, dropping to 15-1, and he has not been booked for another Octagon fight in 2026.
The wrestling version of the feud has been building for months. Chimaev called Covington out after RAF 6. Covington later said he wanted the match, with one condition: a fair weight, not a jump into the 200s. He floated 185 pounds and said he would not give away 30 pounds.
That dispute is still unresolved in public. Chimaev’s leak did not mention a number. It only named the opponent and the market.
Abu Dhabi would be a new stop for RAF. The promotion’s published calendar lists RAF 13 in Miami on Friday, RAF 14 in Las Vegas on Oct. 23, and RAF 15 in Chicago on Nov. 28. An international date in the UAE is not on that board yet.
The timing still fits the way both careers are moving. Covington has said the UFC retirement paperwork was the “red tape” he needed so he could take the biggest RAF matches available. Chimaev has filled the gap after the Strickland loss by pinning Dillon Danis in 44 seconds at RAF 10 and beating Tyron Woodley at RAF Moscow.
A meeting between them would be the largest crossover RAF has tried to sell. Covington is the face of the promotion’s MMA-to-wrestling pipeline. Chimaev is the biggest active UFC name still showing up on those cards.
It would also settle an argument that never reached the Octagon. The two were linked at welterweight years ago, then the styles, weights, and bookings never lined up. Covington has used that history in interviews. Chimaev just used a press conference to treat the rematch as inevitable.
Friday still comes first. Covington has to get through Muhammad in the main event. Chimaev has to get through Burns, the same man he beat by decision at UFC 273 in 2022.
If both win, the Abu Dhabi comment gets harder to walk back. If either man slips, RAF can delay the booking and wait for a cleaner poster.
For now, the only confirmation is the one Chimaev gave by accident. He said Covington is out of the UFC, he said they are going to wrestle, and he said the place is Abu Dhabi. Then he apologized for saying it too soon.