For Khamzat Chimaev, the point was not just the result. It was the way he absorbed a late change, took control early and still finished the job with the kind of authority that keeps following him around the middleweight UFC conversation.
He was originally scheduled to face Colby Covington on Saturday, but when Chris Weidman stepped in as a late notice replacement, Chimaev made the adjustment look routine. He went up 5-0 in the first period after a takedown and turns, then kept the pressure on until Weidman’s team issued a challenge after a four-point score.
The challenge was denied, and that decision sealed a 10-0 technical fall for Chimaev in the RAF Abu Dhabi main event. That detail matters because it shows how quickly he can turn control into separation once he gets the match into his preferred territory.
What the score says about the fight
A 10-0 result is not just a comfortable win; it is a statement of control from start to finish. Chimaev never allowed the fight to settle into anything that would favor a late replacement trying to survive, and the first-period takedown set the tone immediately. Once he had the lead, he kept building on it rather than protecting it.
That is why the scoreline fits the larger picture around him in RAF Abu Dhabi. The source frames Chimaev as unstoppable since arriving in RAF, and this performance gave that claim another clean data point. Even with a switch in opponent, he did not lose his structure or his urgency.
After the match, Chimaev said it felt good and amazing, and added that anyone who wants to wrestle, fight or grapple, it does not matter because he is always ready. That is the simplest explanation for why this win carries weight: he did not just accept the change, he turned it into another dominant performance.
In a sport where late replacements can scramble plans, Chimaev did the opposite. He kept the same approach, imposed it early and finished with a score that left no doubt about who controlled the main event in Abu Dhabi.
