Former UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev will face Colby Covington, who once held the UFC's interim welterweight title, on 14 November at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. The pair will wrestle for the Cruiserweight Crossover Championship of Real American Freestyle, the professional freestyle wrestling league, finally taking a war of words that has rumbled on for years onto the mat. Covington won that very belt by beating Arman Tsarukyan and later defended it successfully against Belal Muhammad.
Real American Freestyle is going big in Abu Dhabi, with Olympic champions Henry Cejudo, Jordan Burroughs, Kyle Snyder and Abdulrashid Sadulaev among the other stars set to take to the mat. The show marks the official launch of a five-year strategic partnership between the league, Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism and the UAE Wrestling Federation. Chimaev set the match in motion by openly calling out Covington after beating Gilbert Burns.
