Raul Rosas Jr. Submits Colby Covington in 43 Seconds — and Usman and Cejudo Are Laughing

A 22-year-old bantamweight stepped in for Dillon Danis and choked out the former interim welterweight champion in under a minute in Rome — eleven days before Covington defends his RAF title against Khamzat Chimaev.

Colby Covington lasted 43 seconds. Raul Rosas Jr. submitted him with a rear-naked choke at the HYPE Fighting Championship in Rome on Tuesday, November 3 — a 10-minute, submission-only grappling match at the PalaPellicone, and the main event of the night.

The finish was fast and clean. Rosas Jr. pressured from the opening exchange, scored an early double-leg takedown, took Covington's back with a body triangle, and locked in the rear-naked choke while Covington was still standing, dragging him back to the mat before the tap. HYPE's own result post said 40 seconds; MMA Fighting timed it at 43.

Rosas Jr. was not even supposed to be there. The match was booked as Covington against Dillon Danis, but Danis withdrew days out, just before the Sunday press conference on November 1. Rosas Jr., who was attending the press conference, volunteered to replace him when organisers called for a stand-in.

It was only the second time Covington has been submitted in professional competition. The first was Warlley Alves, at UFC 194 in December 2015.

The size gap makes it worse. Rosas Jr. is a 135-pound bantamweight — 35 pounds lighter than the division Covington used to fight in — and at 22 he is the youngest fighter ever to compete in the UFC, debuting at 18. He is 13-1 overall and 7-1 in the UFC, on a six-fight win streak, and he headlined a UFC Fight Night card in September.

Covington is 38, 17-5 overall and 12-5 in the UFC, a former interim welterweight champion and a three-time title challenger who lost twice to Kamaru Usman and once to Leon Edwards. His last UFC fight was a TKO loss to Joaquin Buckley in December 2024; his last UFC win was over Jorge Masvidal in March 2022. He retired from the UFC in May 2026 — not from MMA; he says he would return for a big fight — and has since gone 5-0 in Real American Freestyle, where he holds the Crossover Cruiserweight title.

His old rivals did not let it pass. On their Pound 4 Pound podcast, Henry Cejudo tore into him: "He gets fcking taken down, double-legged, this is the whole fight, 40 seconds. Look at this motherfcker, and he's supposed to beat Khamzat Chimaev next fcking week? Colby Covington, you ain't the king of sht no more. This does hurt. I guess people will get over it. If he's able to come out and beat Khamzat Chimaev, people will forget it, or maybe he'll get a rematch with Raul Rosas, but I think Raul will probably do that sh*t again to him."

Usman, who beat Covington twice in UFC title fights, was colder about it. "That's not excusable because of your name and the brand that you've built. It's not excusable. Now us, real fighters and competitors, we know how difficult and how different they are. Super different. Wrestling and jiu-jitsu are completely different. So Raul Rosas caught him off guard, got in there, and put him away. You could see [Covington's] face. He was not ready for that level of intensity right away."

Covington broke his silence after the match. "I just came out a little slow. This is the first time I've done jiu-jitsu in years." And: "Every setback is a good opportunity for a comeback. I will get my hand raised next time."

There was one more viral subplot. Conor McGregor was ringside in Rome as a special guest, and the broadcast cut to him laughing during the main event; the clip spread framed as McGregor mocking Covington's defeat. McGregor denied it on X on November 4: "This is false and fully edited. I had an amazing and fun time at the show in Rome tonight, as is evident in the clip of myself laughing, however it's placement as if it was at this moment of the show is FALSE. I do not laugh at competing men and women."

The timing is what makes the loss sting. On Saturday, November 14, at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, Covington defends his RAF Cruiserweight Crossover Championship against Khamzat Chimaev in a freestyle wrestling match — the main event of RAF Abu Dhabi, with Arman Tsarukyan against Neiman Gracie as the co-main.

Chimaev is 4-0 in RAF, coming off an 11-0 technical-fall win over fellow former UFC champion Robbie Lawler at RAF 14 on October 23. The DraftKings opener has Chimaev at -1000 and Covington at +650. Both men are unbeaten in RAF; Covington is 5-0 there, with wins over Arman Tsarukyan and a 10-0 technical fall over Belal Muhammad.

Covington is not backing down. "I plan to make him butt scoot on the wrestling mat in three minutes," he said of Chimaev. "I'm going to expose him in front of all his friends and fans over in the UAE."

Eleven days after a 43-second loss, Covington walks into the biggest wrestling match of his life — against a man the bookmakers have as a 10-to-1 favourite. As Cejudo put it, if he beats Chimaev, people will forget it. If he doesn't, the Rome tape will follow him.