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RAF 11 Results: Colby Covington edges Arman Tsarukyan to claim inaugural crossover belt

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RAF 11 Results: Colby Covington edges Arman Tsarukyan to claim inaugural crossover belt

Colby Covington is the inaugural RAF crossover champion.

On Saturday night in Milwaukee, Covington wrestled Arman Tsarukyan for the inaugural title, and the former Division 1 All-American wrestler showed his chops, edging out Tsarukyan in a hard-fought battle.

Tsarukyan came out pandering to the Wisconsin crowd, rocking a cheese head. Covington was definitely the bigger man in the matchup, but Tsarukyan didn't care whatsoever about that, taking the fight right to him. Both men locked up, but neither could gain much advantage in these positions, working snap downs and arm drags. At the end of the first, Tsarukyan changed levels for a single-leg, but Covington hit a waist wrap, taking him over for a takedown, and a 3-0 lead, including a shot clock point from earlier in the round.

Covington's defense remained very stalwart defensively, but in the second round, Tsarukyan got a cleaner single leg and drove through, lifting Covington in the air and getting the takedown when Covington bailed out to avoid the exposure. On the reset, Covington finally shot his own takedown, but Tsarukyan was able to barely keep from giving up points after a fun scramble. But like in the first period, Tsarukyan shot a weak takedown at the end, and Covington sprawled and turned to get two more points.

Heading into the third round, Tsarukyan was down three points, and he wrestled with that sort of urgency, pressing forward and attacking repeatedly. That put Covington in a shot clock violation, but Tsarukyan simply could not break through Covington's defense to score. He continues to try, but Covington sprawled effectively and never gave him a window, eking out a 5-3 win, and handing Tsarukyan his first loss in RAF.

After the match, Covington was highly complimentary of Tsarukyan, saying he's going to be the UFC lightweight champion soon. Then he laid out a list of possible opponents for his new title, including Belal Muhammad and Khamzat Chimaev.

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UFC 331: Van vs. Pantoja 2, Tsarukyan vs. Ruffy live stream watch party

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UFC 331: Van vs. Pantoja 2, Tsarukyan vs. Ruffy live stream watch party

MMA Fighting has a live stream watch party for Saturday's UFC 331 event at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. In the main event, Joshua Van defends his flyweight title in a rematch against the man he won the championship from, Alexandre Pantoja in a heated rematch.

Join MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Jed Meshew as they watch the main card and more for the promotion's upcoming numbered event in the City of Angels.

In the co-main event, top lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan faces knockout artist Mauricio Ruffy in a high-stakes, five-round contest.

Additionally, former Bellator champion Patricio Pitbull takes on Doo Ho Choi in the featherweight featured contest, while Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson battles Sean Sharaf in a heavyweight bout.

The UFC 331 main card opens with a light heavyweight tilt between Alonzo Menifield and Iwo Baraniewski.

Watch MMA Fighting's UFC 330 live stream Watch Party beginning at 8:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. PT with the featured preliminary fight between Marlon Vera and Charles Jourdain.

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Anything but Fighting: Edmen Shahbazyan answers random questions

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Anything but Fighting: Edmen Shahbazyan answers random questions

LOS ANGELES — UFC middleweight contender Edmen Shahbazyan joins MMA Fighting's Jose Youngs on #AnythingButFighting to talk about his favorite movies, music, foods, concerts, and more.

Shahbazyan (16-6) is looking to get back into the win column against Brunno Ferreira on the preliminary card of UFC 331. “The Golden Boy†previously dropped a unanimous decision win to Brendan Allen, snapping his three-fight win streak in the process. To date, Shahbazyan holds notable wins over Andre Petroski, André Muniz, Jack Hermansson, Brad Tavares, and Jack Marshman.

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Dana White says Ciryl Gane won’t be promoted to undisputed champion: ‘He’s still got to fight’

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Dana White says Ciryl Gane won’t be promoted to undisputed champion: ‘He’s still got to fight’

Ciryl Gane is NOT the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion.

On Monday, Tom Aspinall vacated his UFC heavyweight title after reinjuring his eyes in training, forcing him out of action indefinitely. As such, many expected that interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane — the man who caused Aspinall's original eye injuries when he poked him during their heavyweight title fight at UFC 321 — would be elevated to undisputed champion and then defend his belt; but not so fast.

“Does it make him the undisputed champion?†White asked when questioned about Gane. “No. He's still got to fight.â€

White added that he expects Gane's next fight, the bout for the title of undisputed champion, will be announced “very soon.â€

Ostensibly, Aspinall could face the winner of whatever that potential bout is, should he be ready to return to action by then. But White has no timeline on when that might be.

“I don't [know],†White said when asked how long Aspinall's will be out for. “Obviously, whenever he feels healthy again, whenever his eyes are healed, then we're ready for him.â€

Gane won the interim heavyweight title with a TKO win over Alex Pereira at UFC White House this summer. It was expected that Gane and Aspinall would unify their titles in a rematch this year, before Aspinall's setback ended those plans.

As for the rest of the heavyweight division, Aspinall's latest update seems to have left the UFC scrambling, with White not having a clear path forward, but saying the UFC will figure it out.

“We'll see how this whole thing plays out with Aspinall,†White said. “Ciryl will fight, and we'll see who becomes the champion. This isn't like this is the first time this has ever happened, and it's happening right now with Valentina Shevchenko, too. This is nothing new. This happens sometimes, and it's unfortunate. Not the best outcome, but it is what it is.â€

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