{"id":877882,"date":"2026-09-02T21:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T21:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/877882\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T21:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T21:56:10","slug":"khamzat-chimaev-set-to-run-it-back-at-raf-13-with-former-ufc-rival-who-nearly-beat-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/877882\/","title":{"rendered":"Khamzat Chimaev set to run it back at RAF 13 with former UFC rival who nearly beat him"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Trending:<a class=\"exactmetrics-inline-popular-posts-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/arman-tsarukyan\/arman-tsarukyan-new-opponent-ufc-331-rumored-charles-oliveira-rematch\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Arman Tsarukyan vs. Charles Oliveira 2 cancelled as Tsarukyan set for new UFC 331 fight<\/a><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/MixCollage-31-Aug-2026-01-15-PM-5812-1024x576.jpg\" class=\"nlz w-full h-auto wp-post-image\" alt=\"Khamzat Chimaev on the scale at the UFC 328 ceremonial weigh-in\" fetchpriority=\"high\"   data-eio=\"p\"\/>Credit: Ed Mulholland\/Zuffa LLC<\/p>\n<p>Former UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev will stay active on the wrestling mats against a familiar foe.<\/p>\n<p>After suffering one of the biggest upsets in UFC history earlier this year, Khamzat Chimaev is determined to make another middleweight title push after recently hinting at a move to light heavyweight. Chimaev, who lost to Sean Strickland by split decision earlier this year, called out a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/khamzat-chimaev\/khamzat-chimaev-pivots-sean-strickland-rematch-calls-out-top-contenders\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">slew of top middleweights<\/a> for his planned return to the Octagon.<\/p>\n<p>Despite initially teasing a move to the light heavyweight division, Chimaev seems to have had a change of heart and eyes an eventual rematch with Strickland. Meanwhile, Strickland is widely expected to fight top middleweight contender Nassourdine Imavov, potentially by year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n<p>After defeating Dillon Danis in his highly anticipated Real American Freestyle wrestling debut earlier this year, Chimaev is looking to stay active on the mats. Despite long-standing beef with Colby Covington, Chimaev will face a familiar rival in his wrestling return.<\/p>\n<p>Khamzat Chimaev vs. Gilbert Burns 2 added to Colby Covington-headlined card<\/p>\n<p>As announced by <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RAFWrestlingUSA\/status\/2095149890858778905?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">RAF<\/a> on Wednesday, Chimaev will compete against former UFC welterweight title challenger Gilbert Burns in the RAF 13 co-main event on September 18th. The matchup will be contested at a catchweight.<\/p>\n<p>Burns <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/kamaru-usman\/kamaru-usman-pens-classy-tribute-gilbert-burns-retirement\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">retired from the UFC<\/a> earlier this year at UFC Winnipeg following a loss to Mike Malott. He last competed in submission grappling earlier this summer, defeating Horlando Monteiro at UFC BJJ 9.<\/p>\n<p>Burns handed Chimaev one of the toughest tests of his UFC career at UFC 273. After their three-round war, Chimaev escaped with a unanimous decision win on the judges\u2019 scorecards.<\/p>\n<p>The RAF 13 pits former UFC welterweight title challenger Colby Covington against former UFC titleholder Belal Muhammad in the main event. Covington and Muhammad nearly brawled at a post-match press conference earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p>Who should Khamzat Chimaev fight next in his UFC return? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-1 mt-0 os-source\">This article appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BJPENN.COM<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trending:Arman Tsarukyan vs. Charles Oliveira 2 cancelled as Tsarukyan set for new UFC 331 fightCredit: Ed Mulholland\/Zuffa LLC&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":877883,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,22190,4120,785,447438,85,787],"class_list":["post-877882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-gilbert-burns","tag-khamzat-chimaev","tag-mma","tag-raf-13","tag-sports","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=877882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/877883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}