Khamzat Chimaev Pins Tyron Woodley in 94 Seconds at RAF Moscow
Khamzat Chimaev pinned Tyron Woodley in 1:34 of the first period Saturday night in the RAF Moscow main event. The former UFC middleweight champion needed a body-lock slam and two shoulders on the mat to close the 195-pound catchweight match at Mytishchi Arena.
Real American Freestyle posted the result with a simple caption. “KHAMZAT CHIMAEV WIN AT #RAFMOSCOW.”
The official result was pinfall at 1:34 of Round 1. Chimaev is now 2-0 in the promotion, both wins by pin.
He entered as the No. 1 ranked UFC middleweight and No. 12 on the official pound-for-pound list released Sept. 1. Woodley came in off a comeback win in his RAF debut two weeks earlier.
Chimaev, 32, was born in Gvardeyskoye in the Chechen Republic and trains at Allstars Training Center. He is a three-time Swedish national wrestling champion who fights under the nickname Borz.
His MMA record is 15-1, with a 9-1 mark in the UFC. He won the middleweight title by unanimous decision over Dricus du Plessis at UFC 319 on Aug. 16, 2025, then lost it by split decision to Sean Strickland at UFC 328 on May 9.
That was his first professional mixed martial arts loss. The judges had it 48-47, 47-48, 48-47.
His first RAF match lasted even less time than this one. He pinned Dillon Danis in 44 seconds at RAF 10 on June 13, the fastest pin in league history.
Woodley, 44, is a former UFC welterweight champion from Ferguson, Missouri. Nicknamed The Chosen One, he won the belt and defended it four times before Kamaru Usman took it by unanimous decision at UFC 235 in March 2019.
He was a two-time Division I All-American at the University of Missouri, where he went 110-38. His last MMA win was a submission of Darren Till at UFC 228 on Sept. 8, 2018.
After Till, he lost four straight in the UFC, including a unanimous decision to Gilbert Burns, a TKO to Colby Covington, and a first-round submission to Vicente Luque at UFC 260 in March 2021. He then went 0-3 in boxing against Jake Paul twice and Anderson Silva.
That seven-fight skid across MMA and boxing ended at RAF 12 on Aug. 22 in Cleveland. Woodley trailed Joaquin Buckley 8-0 in the first period, then came back to win 14-8.
He did not get that far against Chimaev. They shook hands, Woodley shot a single, and Chimaev scrambled to an ankle pick before the referee stood them up.
Chimaev pushed Woodley over the line for 1-0. A second push-out made it 2-0.
Woodley shot again and got stuffed. Chimaev locked the body, slammed him, and put both shoulders down for the pin.
They had weighed in at 192.5 pounds for Chimaev and 193.5 for Woodley. The 12-year age gap showed in the first minute, and the match never reached a second period.
Asked what he wanted next, Chimaev said whoever. He is already booked to face Burns on Sept. 18 in the co-main event of RAF 13 in Miami.
That will be his third RAF match in a little more than three months. Burns beat Woodley by unanimous decision in a five-round UFC bout on May 30, 2020.
The Moscow card was the promotion’s first event in Russia. It was moved from VTB Arena to Mytishchi Arena in the days before the show and did not stream live on Fox Nation in the United States.
Woodley falls to 1-1 in RAF. The pin is his first loss since he returned to the mat.
A 94-second pin of a former UFC champion does not change Chimaev’s official UFC ranking by itself. It does keep him unbeaten on the RAF mat heading into the Burns rematch in Miami.
The Moscow main event lasted 13 matches and a little more than three hours. Chimaev finished it the same way he started his RAF run, with a pin before the first period was half over.