Khamzat Chimaev dismisses Colby Covington's complaints about wrestling in Abu Dhabi

Khamzat Chimaev has waited a long time to get his hands on Colby Covington, and he'll finally get the chance to face him at RAF Abu Dhabi. While Chimaev is excited, Covington is displeased over having to travel to the United Arab Emirates for their bout.

Khamzat Chimaev brushes off Colby Covington's complaints

RAF will be heading to the United Arab Emirates on Nov. 14, where Khamzat Chimaev will face Colby Covington at RAF Abu Dhabi in front of a crowd of supporters at Etihad Arena. While Chimaev is more than pleased with competing in Abu Dhabi, the same cannot be said for Covington, who believes that RAF, as a promotion based in the United States, should focus solely on holding events on American soil, and that he, as an American titleholder reigning as the first RAF Cruiserweight Crossover champion, should not accommodate Chimaev by competing outside of the United States.

Not only does Covington want all of his matches to be held in the United States, he also feels that Chimaev is undeserving of the privilege of competing in front of supporters, accusing 'Borz' of using RAF as a cash grab. Chimaev, for his part, couldn't care less, saying as much in a recent interview with MMA Fighting (0:25):

"I don't care about whether he's happy or not, but I'm happy. I'm happy to beat him, I'm happy to, finally, to get him, you know? So many times I'm going after him in the UFC, now he's in RAF, we get it."

The two men will compete for Covington's RAF Cruiserweight Crossover title in a bout that's been many years in the making. Back when Chimaev was still an undefeated UFC welterweight star, he became a popular target of Covington's trash talk, as the two men seemed to be on a collision course. Many expected them to either face each other in a UFC welterweight title eliminator or, if Chimaev rose to championship status without fighting him, a title defense. Unfortunately, the matchup never came to fruition, despite trash talk between the pair ramping up throughout the years.

After struggling to make weight at 170 pounds, Chimaev elected to move up to middleweight, where he did well and ended up becoming the UFC middleweight champion, outwrestling Dricus du Plessis to a unanimous decision win at UFC 319. Unfortunately, he failed to successfully defend his title, losing it to Sean Strickland via split-decision at UFC 328 in one of the biggest upsets in middleweight history. Covington, by contrast, had a memorable stint as a top welterweight contender, capturing the interim UFC welterweight title, before thrice challenging for the undisputed belt.

Unfortunately, he later found himself on a rough patch and suffered a third-round TKO loss to Joaquin Buckley at UFC on ESPN 63, after stepping in on short-notice. Unlikely to ever fight for the title again, he retired from the sport, and is now among the biggest stars in RAF and will look to settle his rivalry with Chimaev.