The Real American Freestyle (RAF 13) event took place at the Watsco Center in Miami, Florida, and it’s safe to say the matchups lived up to the hype. Both Khamzat Chimaev and Colby Covington picked up impressive wins against their respective stellar opponents. Even so, the fans seemed to be highly divided on their performances.

The former middleweight champion faced a familiar opponent in Gilbert Burns in the co-main event. In their rematch, ‘Borz’ was dominant throughout, but Burns managed to put 04 points on the board, making the bout more competitive than many expected. Still, after three two-minute rounds, the Chechen secured a 15-4 technical-fall victory, his third win under the RAF banner.

In his last RAF showdown, the former middleweight champion beat Tyron Woodley in just 94 seconds via pinfall. Compared to that, Gilbert Burns displayed much better resistance against the Chechen.

Immediately after the fight, Khamzat Chimaev used his post-fight speech to call out RAF’s cruiserweight crossover champion, Colby Covington, who faced Belal Muhammad in the main event.

“He has the belt, and I need to beat the best,” Chimaev said. 

Following that stellar callout, Covington had something to prove. The former UFC welterweight had already raised the stakes for RAF 13 by building a heated rivalry with Muhammad, one that spilled over into a physical altercation a few months ago. But when fight night arrived, it was ‘Chaos’ who delivered arguably the best performance of his career. 

The 38-year-old dismantled the former UFC welterweight champion with relentless forward pressure and powerful throws. At one point, Covington turned a headlock into a four-point throw, and from there the Miami-based fighter controlled the fight in front of his home crowd.

In the end, ‘Remember the Name’ failed to score a single point, and Covington walked away with a dominant 10-0 technical-fall victory. With his latest win, ‘Chaos’ not only retained his title, but he also extended his winning streak to five. 

Also, Covington’s win raises the stakes for his upcoming bout against Chimaev in Abu Dhabi, a matchup the Chechen accidentally revealed at the RAF 13 pre-fight press conference. 

However, despite both fighters showing dominant outings, fans had plenty to say about Chimaev and Covington’s performance. 

Fans react to Khamzat Chimaev and Colby Covington’s RAF 13 outings

Chimaev’s performance left some of them unimpressed. One fan wrote, “They robbed the f–k out of Burns. Nickal would embarrass Khamzat.” Another said, “Damn. Burns scored on him twice. Wasn’t expecting that.” A third echoed the sentiment, “Khamzat got taken down twice by old Gilbert Burns. Bo Nickal would smoke him.”

Many were clearly surprised by how competitive Burns was against a dominant Chimaev. Still, the Brazilian is a third-degree black belt and a submission specialist. Well, Burns’ discipline differs from freestyle wrestling, but his years of honing his craft, combined with his experience inside the Octagon, helped him put up a strong fight.

With that in mind, another fan pointed out, “Don’t let this distract you from the fact that Gilbert got more points over Khamzat in wrestling than Belal did over Colby.”

The fan’s observation is definitely accurate. The co-main event was far more competitive than the headliner, which turned into a one-sided thrashing. Covington earned plenty of praise from fans for his convincing win over Muhammad. 

A fan wrote, “Colby was the only one who actually wrestled him, and it showed immediately. Belal’s whole game is pressure, and he had zero answer for someone who just kept going forward.” Then another fan commented, “Made it look way too easy.” 

Belal Muhammad is widely regarded as one of the best grapplers in the UFC, so many fans expected him to be a tough matchup for Covington. Instead, the Miami-based fighter completely shut down Muhammad’s wrestling with his throws and cruised to an easy victory. 

However, this isn’t the first time ‘Chaos’ has earned that kind of praise. He was also lauded for his win over Arman Tsarukyan, another fighter known for elite grappling in both RAF and UFC. The former UFC welterweight beat the Armenian via 5-3 score at RAF 11, which was far more competitive than the showdown against Muhammad.

The fans weren’t done there, though. They also roasted Muhammad for getting eye poked during the bout. One fan wrote, “How is Belal always getting eyepoked😭.” 

At one point, Muhammad complained about a poke to the eye as Covington went for a takedown. But it’s a recurring issue for ‘Remember the Name,’ who seems to get poked by almost every opponent. In his UFC bouts, Leon Edwards and Ian Garry have both landed eye pokes against him.  

That said, Colby Covington and Khamzat Chimaev’s outings in RAF have both been successful. Now, it remains to be seen whether they can deliver another entertaining clash when they finally meet in their already scheduled bout.