Colby Covington Dominates Belal Muhammad at RAF 13

Colby Covington didn’t just beat Belal Muhammad at RAF 13. He shut him out, shut him down, and walked out of the Watsco Center on Friday night looking every inch the man Khamzat Chimaev now has to go through.

A 10-0 technical fall in a grudge match that had been simmering for months is as brutal a punctuation mark as you’ll find in this sport. All that talk, all that animosity from the July press conference, and when the whistle finally blew, only one of them truly showed up.

Covington crushes the grudge

From the opening exchanges, Covington — fighting in front of his adopted Florida crowd — wrestled like a man intent on ending the argument, not extending it. Muhammad, the former UFC welterweight champion, offered pockets of stout defense, but they were speed bumps, not roadblocks.

The key moment came early. Covington snapped Muhammad into a front headlock, adjusted his grip, and turned it into a slick four-point throw that brought the arena to its feet. It wasn’t just a score; it was a message. This was his mat, his night.

From there, Covington barely retreated a single step. He chained his attacks, rolling through gut wrenches, hitting a clean go-behind, piling on points as Muhammad struggled to generate anything meaningful in response. The bad blood that had fueled the build-up never translated into momentum for the underdog.

The finish, in contrast to the intensity of the performance, came in almost anticlimactic fashion. With Covington already up 9-0, Muhammad went on the 30-second shot clock. Time bled away with no score, gifting Covington the final point he needed for a technical fall. At 38, the reigning RAF cruiserweight crossover champion had turned a feud into a formality.

The crowd roared. The rivalry didn’t. It just went quiet.

Chimaev steamrolls Burns again

If Covington’s win was cold, clinical dominance, Khamzat Chimaev’s was something closer to a controlled storm.

Facing Gilbert Burns for the second time in his career — more than four years after their razor-edged MMA battle at UFC 273 — Chimaev had no interest in reliving the drama. He simply overpowered the Brazilian in a 15-4 technical fall, moving to 3-0 in RAF and keeping his aura of inevitability very much intact.

Chimaev had already flattened Dillon Danis and Tyron Woodley via first-round pinfalls in his first two RAF outings. Burns, making his RAF debut, at least avoided being pinned. He couldn’t avoid being overwhelmed.

The former UFC middleweight champion pressed relentlessly, racking up scores across two periods before closing the show via tech fall in the second. It wasn’t quite the chaotic war of their UFC clash, but it didn’t need to be. It was dominant, decisive, and it left only one question hanging over the Watsco Center.

What happens when Chimaev finally gets his hands on Covington?

Speaking to RAF commentator Chael Sonnen after his win, Chimaev didn’t bother with subtlety. He pointed straight at the belt.

“He has the belt and I need to beat the best,” he said, throwing down the gauntlet with the kind of blunt ambition that fits the way he wrestles.

Covington, fresh off dismantling Muhammad, now stands as the man with the target on his back — and the most dangerous hunter in the promotion already has him in his sights.

Blades, Pyfer, Nolf and a stacked undercard

The rest of the 12-bout card in Miami delivered its own storylines, even as the looming specter of Covington vs. Chimaev dominated the bigger picture.

Kennedy Blades — one of the brightest talents in women’s wrestling — kept her women’s middleweight title with a shutout technical fall over Diana Avsaragova. Blades didn’t just defend her belt; she smothered the challenge, never allowing Avsaragova a foothold in the match.

Joe Pyfer announced himself in RAF with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. In a light heavyweight crossover bout, he manhandled former UFC champion Luke Rockhold, storming to a 14-3 technical fall in a debut that will make matchmakers take notice. Rockhold had experience. Pyfer had momentum and muscle, and that combination ruled the night.

Jason Nolf, by contrast, had to dig deep. The middleweight champion was pushed to the edge by Julian Ramirez, escaping with a 7-6 points win in one of the most competitive fights of the evening. Ramirez refused to go away, forcing Nolf to show championship composure in the closing moments.

Across the rest of the card, titles changed hands and reputations were sharpened:

• Arsen Harutyunyan dethroned Austin DeSanto for the bantamweight championship with a composed 6-3 points win.
• Timur Bizhoev edged Michael Caliendo 5-4 in a tight welterweight battle.
• Chance Marsteller outlasted Georgios Kougioumtsidis, 8-6, in a gritty cruiserweight clash.
• Bryce Meredith and Movlid Khaybulaev traded points in a wild welterweight shootout, Meredith finally pulling clear 17-13.
• Cayden Henschel claimed the featherweight crossover championship with a 7-2 points victory over Johnni DiJulius.
• Jacori Teemer impressed at lightweight, beating Haji Aliyev 9-6 in a lively, high-skill affair.
• Mugzy closed the show in style, securing a pinfall over Real Tarzann in their catchweight crossover contest.

By the time the lights dimmed in Miami, the narrative threads had all woven into one clear picture.

Covington owns the belt. Chimaev wants it. Both looked untouchable on the same night, in the same building, under the same lights.

RAF 13 didn’t just settle scores. It set up a collision that now feels impossible to avoid.