Tonight, Khamzat Chimaev will face a familiar challenger in Gilbert Burns at the Real American Freestyle 13 (RAF) event in Florida. But before the former UFC middleweight champion enters his next matchup, his next challenge is already set in stone against Colby Covington, who is headlining tonight’s freestyle wrestling event against Belal Muhammad.

During the RAF 13 pre-fight presser, ‘Borz’ accidentally leaked that the promotion has already set his next fight against Colby Covington for their next event in Abu Dhabi.

“Colby is not in the UFC right now,” Chimaev said. “So, I think we are gonna rest on it in Abu Dhabi, and maybe I announced it too early. Sorry, guys.”

Currently, RAF has scheduled its freestyle event for November 15 at the Etihad Arena, but the promotion has yet to announce any matchups. However, after Chimaev accidentally revealed his fight against Covington, RAF boss Izzy Martinez, who was sitting beside him, simply smirked, seemingly indicating that the matchup had indeed been finalized.

Besides ‘Borz,’ his future opponent, Colby Covington, also played his part in providing some details about the clash. Though ‘Chaos’ didn’t outright reveal the matchup, he told MMA Junkie that he would welcome a fight against the Chechen at 180 pounds, which is the weight he competes at in the UFC, rather than 200 pounds, which he revealed the promotion was eyeing. Well, that was enough to understand that the matchup was cooking.

But even before the stellar matchup became a reality, Chimaev had already laid the foundation for this freestyle clash against Covington by calling him out in March.

“Next RAF I will make American boy humble again,” Chimaev wrote on X. “Colbiclown let’s go.”

Right after that callout, ‘Borz’ signed with RAF the following month, on April 18. Since then, both fighters have climbed the promotional ladder pretty swiftly.

Covington, who retired from UFC in May to compete in freestyle wrestling, has the better record for now in RAF. He won 04 freestyle bouts in a row, with his most recent victory coming against Chimaev’s training partner, Arman Tsarukyan. With a win over Muhammad, ‘Chaos’ would extend his win streak to five.

On the other hand, the former middleweight champion has defeated 02 opponents in RAF: Dillon Danis and Tyron Woodley. If he gets a win tonight against Burns, that would make it three wins for Chimaev in RAF.

So, if both fighters win their respective bouts tonight, it would turn the Abu Dhabi matchup into even higher stakes, as either Chimaev or Covington would risk losing their momentum in the RAF.

However, it’s also worth noting that both fighters share a history of rivalry that was already pretty heated during their UFC days.

Khamzat Chimaev vs. Colby Covington: a history of bad blood  

Before retiring from the UFC, Colby Covington had animosity with almost all the notable fighters, and some of those rivalries are still ongoing. He picked a bone with Jorge Masvidal and Dustin Poirier, and has also had beef with Jon Jones. Unsurprisingly, Khamzat Chimaev’s name was also on that list when he used to compete in the 170-pound division.

In 2023, Covington claimed that Chimaev was dodging a potential matchup against him in the UFC. However, ‘Borz’ starkly refuted his claims, saying UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby contacted him four times for the fight, and each time he accepted. Because of this, the former middleweight champion called Covington a “liar” for spreading misinformation about the matchup.

“I reacted like he’s a liar,” Chimaev told MMA Fighting in 2023. “He lies. They called me four times; why didn’t it happen? They wanted it, the UFC wanted it, why didn’t it happen? Someone said, ‘No.’ I know it’s not me. I go out with the media at that time, and he was fighting.

“I showed it to everyone. I want a fight with Colby. I posted a picture on Instagram, I tweeted, everywhere I spoke about that I want to make a show, and that will be an amazing fight.”

Finally, after all these years, Chimaev and Covington’s bad-blood rivalry will finally get a platform. Though we might miss the punches and kicks, seeing them collide on the mat is expected to be nothing but an exciting spectacle.