Khamzat Chimaev continued his dominant run in wrestling with a lightning quick pin over former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley in the RAF Moscow main event on Saturday.
Competing at a 195-pound catchweight, Chimaev clearly had a lot of size on Woodley, but the former University of Missouri standout is a two-time All-American so he clearly didn’t fear the opportunity to mix it up with “Borz” on the wrestling mats.
Woodley was the first to shoot and he got deep on a single-leg attempt but Chimaev was quick to react and he shut him down before a restart on the feet. A couple of push outs got Chimaev on the board with two points, but the emphatic finish was just around the corner.
With Woodley trying to find his way inside to either push Chimaev out of bounds or drop down for a double-leg takedown, he was susceptible to a well-timed move from the Chechen mauler.
Chimaev quickly reversed and lifted Woodley into the air before slamming him back down to the mat again. Chimaev secured the position and pinned Woodley’s shoulders to the ground with the referee quickly calling the pin to end the match at just 1:34 into the first period.
Chimaev smiled at Woodley after the pin and both athletes embraced the moment as the former UFC middleweight champion continues to show he’s got more than a few tricks up his sleeve when it comes to his wrestling prowess.
There’s no slowing down for Chimaev in RAF as he already has his next match booked against Gilbert Burns as part of the card in Miami on Sept. 18.
“For me, it doesn’t matter,” Chimaev said about who he’d like to face in RAF. “Anyone. I have a match coming up in two weeks.”
Chimaev is quickly becoming one of the most popular wrestlers on the RAF roster, and he’ll only get bigger and bigger with more performances like the one he had on Saturday. As for Woodley, he scored a win over Joaquin Buckley in his RAF debut before falling to Chimaev in Moscow, but it’s safe to say the veteran fighter has found a new home with all sorts of possibilities awaiting him in the future in RAF.
