Colby Covington reacts to reports of his declining Sean Strickland clash in RAF

Colby Covington has hit back at reports about his alleged refusal to face UFC middleweight kingpin Sean Strickland in a freestyle wrestling match in the Real American Freestyle (RAF) wrestling organization.

UFC veteran Colby Covington's rise in the RAF

Colby Covington's latest professional MMA matchup came in December of 2024, with Joaquin Buckley stopping him via a cut-induced TKO under the UFC promotional banner. "Chaos" announced his retirement from MMA and the UFC this May.

Nevertheless, Covington -- an ex-interim UFC welterweight champ -- clarified that he hasn't fully shut the door on returning to MMA competition in the UFC. 

Moreover, the 38-year-old has accrued a 5-0 record in freestyle wrestling under the RAF banner this year. The amateur wrestling veteran's foray into wrestling for the RAF saw him beat Luke Rockhold and Dillon Danis via tech fall, outpoint Chris Weidman, and then outpoint Arman Tsarukyan -- the latter match earning him the RAF cruiserweight crossover title. 

His most recent match witnessed him defend his RAF title by defeating Belal Muhammad via tech fall at RAF 13 on September 18. 

Colby Covington scoffs at reports of his refusing Sean Strickland wrestling match in the RAF

The combat sports community was recently set abuzz by a report by Alex Behunin, who indicated that Sean Strickland was willing to wrestle with Colby Covington in a 200-pound catchweight clash at RAF 14 in Las Vegas on October 23. The report indicated that Covington wanted the matchup to be contested at a 190-pound catchweight, and his supposed refusal to face Strickland at 200 pounds caused the match to fall apart. 

It's noteworthy that the two veteran MMA stars have long been at loggerheads. Well, Covington has now taken to X to hit back at the report, deeming it false. Responding to a repost of the claim, he wrote: 

"Fake news. I'll wrestle @sstricklandmma at any weight he wants October 23rd @RAFWrestlingUSA in Las Vegas. Book it @ChadBronstein @IzzyStyle @EBischoff." 

Fake news. I’ll wrestle @sstricklandmma at any weight he wants October 23rd @RAFWrestlingUSA in Las Vegas. Book it @ChadBronstein @IzzyStyle @EBischoff 🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸

— Colby Covington (@ColbyCovMMA) September 30, 2026

Incidentally, Colby Covington is booked to defend his RAF cruiserweight crossover belt against former UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev. They'll headline RAF Abu Dhabi in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on November 14. 

Chimaev and Sean Strickland's latest MMA bout was against one another back in May, in which Strickland handed the Chechen combatant his first MMA defeat. "Borz" lost his UFC middleweight belt via split decision to the American and has been campaigning for a title rematch.

Meanwhile, Strickland has affirmed that he'll defend his UFC middleweight championship in a rematch against Nassourdine Imavov, whom he'd outpointed at light heavyweight a few years ago. The UFC has yet to officially announce the fight, but the consensus is that it'll take place at UFC 335 in Las Vegas on December 12.