ABU DHABI (The Thursday Times) — Khamzat Chimaev beat Chris Weidman 10-0 by technical fall in the main event of Real American Freestyle’s wrestling card in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, as Merab Dvalishvili pinned Marlon Moraes in 90 seconds three days after he was attacked in a hotel lobby in the city.
Chimaev, the former UFC middleweight champion who competes for the UAE, led 5-0 after the first period at the Etihad Arena. He opened the second with a four-point throw, which Weidman challenged and lost, ending the light-heavyweight crossover title match early.
Weidman, a 42-year-old former UFC middleweight champion, had stepped in at a few days’ notice after Colby Covington, the RAF champion, withdrew from the headline match with an undisclosed injury. Weidman lost to Covington on a decision at an RAF event in May.
The win was Chimaev’s first outing since he lost his UFC title to Sean Strickland on a split decision in New Jersey in May, his first professional defeat.
Dvalishvili back on the mat
Dvalishvili, the former UFC bantamweight champion, needed a minute and a half to pin Moraes. On Wednesday he was attacked while giving an interview in the lobby of a Yas Island hotel, in a brawl involving the PFL lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov and others.
An Abu Dhabi court jailed eight people over the fight on Friday, and reports said Dvalishvili was fined and released. Before the event, Dvalishvili said he did not want Nurmagomedov to stay in prison over the attack.
His training partner Saba Lazishvili, who joined the card at short notice after Umar Nurmagomedov was removed, beat the former UFC title challenger Urijah Faber 12-7.
Elsewhere on the card, the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Julianna Peña was pinned by Diana Avsaragova. The Olympic champions Kyle Snyder and Abdulrashid Sadulaev both won, Snyder by an 11-0 technical fall over Shamil Erdogan and Sadulaev 8-5 on points against Dauren Kurugliev, and Jordan Burroughs beat Azamat Nurykau 9-0.
