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MMA Newsvia MMA Fighting

Covington Blanks Belal, Chimaev Downs Burns at RAF 13

Colby Covington made quick work of Belal Muhammad, going up ten-zero, while Khamzat Chimaev had to go until the second period to get a victory over Gilbert Burns at RAF 13 in Miami.

Illustration: two fighters in a grappling exchange, one on top, the other on their back
Illustration by Open Scoring MMA. Generated art, not a photograph, and not a likeness of any real fighter.

This is an Open Scoring MMA News Alert. RAF 13 delivered exactly the kind of lopsided wrestling most people expected in the main event, as Colby Covington ran his RAF record to undefeated by shutting out Belal Muhammad. That result lines up with what our numbers say about where these two are right now. Muhammad, ranked eighth at welterweight in the UFC with an Elo of 1525 across six tracked bouts, is coming off a decision loss to Gabriel Bonfim in June. Covington, a former UFC interim welterweight champion and NCAA All-American wrestler, retired from MMA earlier this year, and this performance suggests his wrestling pedigree still translates cleanly to this format. The co-main saw Khamzat Chimaev work harder than expected before putting away Gilbert Burns. reported Chimaev racked up 15 points and needed to go until the second period to secure the technical fall, even after giving up a couple of takedowns along the way. Elsewhere on the card, Joe Pyfer added another name to his RAF resume by dominating former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold in a prelim bout, per. Fans are already buzzing about the Covington-Muhammad result over on r/MMA, where a thread dedicated to the main event has fight fans picking apart what it means heading into each man's next move.

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This story ran in the September 19, 2026 edition of the daily show.