Weidman Steps In for Covington Against Chimaev, Suarez Calls Her Shot

The Short Version

• Real American Freestyle announced Monday that Chris Weidman replaces the injured Colby Covington against Khamzat Chimaev in the RAF Abu Dhabi main event on Saturday, November 14 at Etihad Arena — now for the inaugural RAF light heavyweight crossover title, live on Fox Nation.
• Tatiana Suarez (13-1) called for a strawweight title fight with champion Mackenzie Dern after outpointing Virna Jandiroba at UFC Vegas 124, telling reporters, “That’s the fight to make.” The UFC has not booked it.
• Johnny Walker, now 2-0 at heavyweight after stopping Waldo Cortes-Acosta on Saturday, offered to serve as backup for Saturday’s UFC 334 heavyweight title fight in New York.
• Maycee Barber is reported out of her December 12 UFC 335 bout with Carli Judice for undisclosed reasons; reports say the UFC plans to rebook the matchup rather than find Judice a replacement.

ABU DHABI —

Saturday’s wrestling main event has a new name on it, and it is a bigger one than the name it lost. Real American Freestyle announced Monday that Colby Covington has withdrawn from his RAF Abu Dhabi headliner against Khamzat Chimaev with an injury, and that former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman steps in on less than a week’s notice. Promotion officials confirmed the change to MMA Junkie, and Sherdog reported the same announcement from RAF.

The belt changed with the opponent. Chimaev was set to challenge Covington for the RAF cruiserweight crossover title in the promotion’s Abu Dhabi debut at Etihad Arena; he and Weidman will instead meet for the inaugural RAF light heavyweight crossover championship, in a main event streaming live on Fox Nation. It is the top bout of a card carrying four title matches.

Weidman is no ceremonial stand-in. The 41-year-old is a two-time NCAA Division I All-American wrestler, and his only previous RAF appearance ended in a close 5–4 decision loss to Covington himself at RAF 09 in May — which means the man replacing Covington has already gone the distance with him on these mats. Chimaev, meanwhile, arrives unbeaten in RAF, with wins over Dillon Danis, Tyron Woodley and Gilbert Burns before a victory over Robbie Lawler at RAF 14 last month, per MMA Junkie.

Covington’s exit comes at the end of a bruising stretch. The injury is undisclosed, and it follows a grappling loss earlier this month in which UFC bantamweight Raul Rosas Jr. submitted him in under a minute at a Hype FC event in Rome. Chimaev’s review of the withdrawal was short. “He is not coming, he is scared,” he wrote on X, per MMA Junkie. Weidman, presumably, is coming — and a former UFC champion who beat Anderson Silva twice does not scare easily either.

Suarez calls her shot

The weekend’s other unfinished business is at 115 pounds. Tatiana Suarez outwrestled Virna Jandiroba over three rounds in the UFC Vegas 124 co-main event on Saturday, then used the post-fight press conference to do the matchmaking out loud. “I want that belt,” she told Michael Bisping in the cage, and she expanded on it for reporters: “I’m No. 2 and [Jandiroba] No. 3. I don’t know who [could be next]. I guess [Zhang] Weili, but we don’t know what’s going on with Weili and it’s just Mackenzie, so I’m just thinking, yeah, that would be a good fight. That’s the fight to make.” MMA Junkie and Sherdog both carried the callout.

The arithmetic backs her up. Suarez (13-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) has won three straight since the only loss of her career, a decision to Zhang Weili in a title fight at UFC 312 in February 2025. Champion Mackenzie Dern (17-5) won the vacant belt by beating Jandiroba at UFC 321 in October 2025 and defended it against Gillian Robertson in August. Zhang vacated the strawweight title to chase flyweight gold, lost that fight to Valentina Shevchenko, and has no public timeline for a return to 115 — which leaves Suarez standing alone at the front of the line. She suggested April as a target and ruled out February. None of it is booked: the UFC has not announced Dern’s next defense or its challenger, and a callout, however logical, is still just a callout until the promotion signs it.

Walker wants the Garden on standby

Heavyweight has its own queue forming, and Johnny Walker keeps pushing toward the front of it. Walker (24-10) stopped Waldo Cortes-Acosta at 2:27 of the third round on Saturday — the first stoppage loss of Cortes-Acosta’s career — to move to 2-0 since arriving in the division, following October’s knockout of Mick Parkin. Afterward, Particle reported, Walker offered to serve as a last-minute backup for the UFC 334 heavyweight title fight this Saturday at Madison Square Garden, where Ciryl Gane defends against Josh Hokit.

If the phone does not ring this week, the next call is not hard to predict. BJPenn’s what’s-next assessment pairs Walker with Curtis Blaydes, who is also coming off a decision win over Cortes-Acosta — the kind of matchmaking that sorts out which of them is a contender and which is a gatekeeper with good highlights. For Cortes-Acosta (17-5), the skid is now three straight losses after a 7-1 start to his UFC run, and the same assessment suggests he take time off and return early in the second quarter of 2027. Those are suggestions, not bookings; the UFC has announced neither man’s next fight.

Barber’s return is reported off

One December date did not survive the weekend, at least on the current reporting. Maycee Barber has withdrawn from her flyweight bout with Carli Judice at UFC 335 on December 12 in Las Vegas for undisclosed reasons, according to MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck, who reported the withdrawal on November 7 after an initial post from reporter Kevin K. Bloody Elbow and MMA Mania carried the same account: rather than find Judice a replacement, the UFC reportedly plans to rebook the matchup for a later date. The promotion has not confirmed the cancellation, and no reason has been given, so the fight’s status stays in the reported column until the UFC says otherwise.

The context is impossible to ignore. Barber (15-3), the No. 9 flyweight, was set to return from a first-round knockout loss to Alexa Grasso at UFC Seattle in March. It is the third scheduled Barber fight to fall apart since 2024: a Rose Namajunas main event was scrapped amid her ongoing health problems, and a 2025 headliner against Erin Blanchfield was canceled minutes before the walkouts after a medical emergency. Judice (7-2) has won four straight since losing her UFC debut and is left waiting for the biggest opportunity of her career to be rescheduled.

First words in Riyadh

And the December 5 card announced over the weekend already has its co-main event talking. Ian Machado Garry, booked against former Bellator champion Yaroslav Amosov in Riyadh in his first fight since an August loss to Islam Makhachev, posted the fight poster on Instagram with a two-word caption: “Anyone. Anytime.” Amosov answered on X by reposting an old clip of Garry dismissing his chances at 170 pounds, adding, “Looks like this guy doesn’t believe in me.” Yardbarker carried both reactions. The talking is free; the five rounds in Riyadh, where Israel Adesanya headlines against Shara Magomedov on the card Previously covered Sunday, will settle the rest. Monday’s full fight slate stays on the Previously sports front.