{"id":39444,"date":"2026-07-22T05:45:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T05:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/RAF-refuses-to-let-CovingtonMuhammad-rivalry-fade-away-202021"},"modified":"2026-07-22T05:45:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T05:45:46","slug":"raf-refuses-to-let-covington-muhammad-rivalry-fade-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/raf-refuses-to-let-covington-muhammad-rivalry-fade-away\/","title":{"rendered":"RAF refuses to let Covington-Muhammad rivalry fade away"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

RAF co-founder Chad Bronstein remains confident that a matchup
\nbetween Colby
\nCovington<\/a> and Belal
\nMuhammad<\/a> will come to fruition.<\/p>\n

Covington and Muhammad are booked to meet in the co-main event of
\nRAF 12 on Aug. 22 in Cleveland after both earned victories at RAF
\n11. However, Covington later revealed that he would no longer
\nentertain the matchup after an aggressive exchange at the
\npost-event press conference.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Real American Freestyle keeps Colby Covington vs. Belal
\nMuhammad alive after controversy<\/h2>\n

Following the announcement of Covington vs. Muhammad for the next
\nRAF event, the pair collided at the post-event press conference. A
\nwar of words quickly escalated before Muhammad threw a kick towards
\nCovington. Security had to intervene to stop the incident from
\nturning into an all-out brawl.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought there was going to be severe trash talk between the two
\nof them,\u201d Bronstein told MMA Fighting. \u201cThey don\u2019t like each other.
\nBut I didn\u2019t think there was going to be any physicality. As much
\ntrash talk as they both do, they\u2019re actually both ultimate
\nprofessionals.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of the incident, Covington told Submission Radio
\nthat he isn\u2019t keen on the matchup, citing Muhammad\u2019s
\nunprofessionalism at the presser, speculating that the former
\n
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> champion will resort to illegal
\nmoves if they were to wrestle. However, Bronstein claims the final
\ndecision is ultimately not Covington\u2019s to make.<\/p>\n

\u201cColby is an investor, but at the end of the day, Izzy [Martinez]\nand myself will make the decision for the matches,\u201d Bronstein said.
\n\u201cHe knows that. And two, he\u2019s going to wrestle Belal. The question
\nis, is it going to happen in Cleveland, or is it going to happen in
\nMiami? But he\u2019s definitely wrestling Belal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bronstein added that Covington is expected to compete in Cleveland
\nregardless of Muhammad’s status.<\/p>\n

\u201cColby will wrestle in Cleveland no matter what,\u201d Bronstein added.
\n\u201cIf Belal doesn\u2019t wrestle in Cleveland, he’ll wrestle in Miami.
\nIt’s going to be Brendan
\nAllen<\/a> that will step in to compete against Colby in Cleveland.
\nBut right now, Belal is still set.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

RAF co-founder Chad Bronstein says the plan
\nis still Colby
\nCovington<\/a> vs. Belal
\nMuhammad<\/a> after their brawl at RAF 11:<\/p>\n

“He\u2019s going to wrestle Belal. The question is, is it going to
\nhappen in Cleveland, or is it going to happen in Miami?”<\/p>\n

(\ud83c\udfa5: @mikeHeck_JR<\/a>)
\npic.twitter.com\/xQzJmAFLdD<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting)
\nJuly 21, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RAF co-founder Chad Bronstein remains confident that a matchup between Colby Covington and Belal Muhammad will come to fruition. Covington and Muhammad are booked to meet in the co-main event of RAF 12 on Aug. 22 in Cleveland after both earned victories at RAF 11. However, Covington later revealed that he would no longer entertain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39445,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}