Chimaev blanks Weidman 10-0 as failed challenge ends RAF bout

At Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Chimaev kept the former UFC middleweight champion scoreless and extended his Real American Freestyle record to 5-0. This was freestyle wrestling, not mixed martial arts, and the distinction matters: the match ended because Chimaev reached RAF's required ten-point lead, not because of a pin, submission or a referee's judgement that Weidman could no longer continue.⁠5⁠17⁠11

Chimaev established control in the first period, building a 5-0 advantage through a takedown and turns. Weidman contested the positions and made him work, according to MMA Fighting's account, but resistance was not producing points. He reached the second period still looking for his first score.⁠1

On the restart, Weidman tried a slide-by, attempting to get past Chimaev. Instead, Chimaev countered with a four-point throw. The lead was now 9-0, close enough that the next point could end the contest. Weidman's side challenged the four-point award; officials upheld it, and the additional point for the failed challenge made the final score 10-0.⁠1⁠5

The important distinction is the order of operations. Chimaev had already earned four points for the counter before the review. The challenge sought to remove those points; it did not create them. When the scoring decision stood, Chimaev kept the four and received one more under RAF's challenge procedure. That final point crossed the stopping threshold.⁠1⁠11

RAF's published rules guide, dated August 18, 2025, describes a system with a clear cost for an unsuccessful appeal. Officials review video when a wrestler challenges a scoring decision. If they overturn the call, the score is adjusted and the wrestler retains the right to challenge again. If they uphold it, the challenger loses that right for the remainder of the match and the opponent receives a point.⁠11

The same guide says a ten-point lead ends a bout by technical fall. At 9-0, those two provisions made this review decisive: an unsuccessful challenge would not simply leave Weidman further behind, but finish the match immediately. It did.⁠11⁠1

Calling it a win sealed by a failed challenge is accurate. Calling it a win produced by a technicality would miss most of what happened. The review settled the last point; Chimaev's takedown, turns and second-period counter had established the nine-point gap that made it decisive.

This was not the main event originally advertised. Chimaev had been scheduled to wrestle Colby Covington, the former UFC interim welterweight champion. RAF announced Weidman as the replacement on November 9, five days before the match, with its light heavyweight crossover championship at stake. That announcement date establishes how late the opponent changed, not exactly how much training Weidman had done.⁠6

The reason for Covington's withdrawal remains less firmly established than the result. MMA Mania reported on November 9 that he had withdrawn because of an undisclosed injury. MMA Fighting's report that day said RAF had not disclosed the cause. The injury explanation is therefore a reported account, not a reason confirmed in the replacement announcement.⁠20⁠6

Weidman brought genuine wrestling credentials to the assignment: he was a two-time NCAA Division I All-American as well as a former UFC champion and Hall of Famer. He was also 42, facing an unbeaten RAF opponent after a late change to the booking. Those circumstances give the defeat context without changing its substance: he could contest Chimaev's positions, but could not put a point on the board.⁠20⁠1⁠5

The loss left Weidman 0-2 in RAF. His only earlier appearance had ended in a decision defeat to Covington in May. Chimaev, meanwhile, added Weidman to a winning sequence that began in June and already included Dillon Danis, Tyron Woodley, Gilbert Burns and Robbie Lawler.⁠17⁠6

Chimaev's post-match offer was broad, but it was not another booking. A rescheduled meeting with Covington remains possible; no new date or confirmed next opponent is established. For now, Abu Dhabi supplied a completed result rather than an answer about what follows: five RAF wins for Chimaev, no points for Weidman, and a challenge that closed the match instead of reopening it.⁠1⁠17