Colby Covington Snubs Khamzat Chimaev, Wants Former UFC Rival for Next RAF Bout

Colby Covington has picked up win after win during his RAF adventure. The post-fight Covington was still unmistakably “Chaos,” but this time the trash talk came with a little more direction.

He rattled off several familiar names before joking that his next stop would be the “mamacitas” at E11EVEN, but when it comes to his next RAF opponent, Covington appears to have someone specific in mind, and it isn’t Khamzat Chimaev.

The RAF Cruiserweight Crossover title appears firmly wrapped around the 38-year-old’s waist. Despite facing three former UFC champions in the promotion, Luke Rockhold, Chris Weidman, and Muhammad Covington’s aura shows no signs of fading. 

He is now 5-0 in RAF and has spent his run doing something he never quite managed inside the Octagon, settling some old scores. His next RAF appearance could add another chapter to that list. Following his Miami win, Covington revealed that he wants to run it back with Kamaru Usman, only this time on the mats.

Khamzat Chimaev’s RAF 13 Snafu

For a brief moment, when Khamzat Chimaev let something slip during the RAF 13 pre-fight press conference, it looked like the Chechen could be heading straight for a collision with Covington. In a lighthearted moment, “Borz” appeared to accidentally reveal that a meeting between the two could already be in the works for RAF’s Abu Dhabi event.

“Colby is not in the UFC right now. So, I think we’re going to wrestle in Abu Dhabi. Maybe I’m too early to announce that. Sorry guys!” the former UFC middleweight champion said candidly before bursting into laughter, seemingly realizing what he had just revealed. Meanwhile, the promotional head continued patting him on the back, making for a hilarious moment. 

Colby Covington Wants to Settle the Scores With Kamaru Usman

Even the self-proclaimed "King of Miami" entertained the idea in his post-fight rant. But when things got backstage, Covington revealed his desire to rematch "The Nigerian Nightmare." Speaking to The Schmo, “Chaos” once again called for a trilogy with Usman, insisting there is still unfinished business between the two former UFC rivals.

He said, “I’d say Marty Fakenews Usman. We got unfinished business. I feel like I beat him both fights and a lot of controversy in those fights. So let’s settle the trilogy here on the RAF mat.”

The reality, of course, is that Usman officially won both meetings in the UFC, stopping Covington via fifth-round TKO in their first fight (UFC 245, 2019) before taking the second (UFC 268, 2021)by unanimous decision. Covington has never accepted those results quietly, though, and now sees RAF as a chance to settle the rivalry on his terms.

“But, we’ve been trying to get that matchup but he is crying, his manager Ali (Abdelaziz) is giving a lot of hard talks to Chad Bronstein,” Covington continued. “So, hopefully, he gets things right and he just comes over here and he settles his beef because he needs to stop hiding.”

And Covington does not seem to view the matchup as some distant possibility either. “If I was a betting man, I do see it happening within the next year. We will see, maybe he is still a little injured from getting beat up Dricus du Plessis. But, whenever he gets healed up, I’ll be waiting for him with this belt and I’ll be ready to smack this belt across his face.”

Whether the Usman trilogy actually makes its way to the RAF mat remains to be seen. Chimaev may have accidentally revealed one possible path in Abu Dhabi, but Covington has made his preference clear.