ALF League announced on Sunday that Khamzat Chimaev will face Jorge Masvidal in a submission-only grappling match. The bout will headline the league's inaugural event, ALF League 1, on December 4 at The Agenda in Dubai, according to Yahoo Sports and Bloody Elbow, who reported the announcement.
What was announced
ALF billed the match on its official X account as "The Chechen Gangster and the Cuban Gangster" and said tickets would go on sale soon. No other bouts have been announced so far. The match is submission only, so there are no points: the winner is decided by a tap.
This is Masvidal's first competition since his boxing loss to Nate Diaz in July 2024, Bloody Elbow reported. Bloody Elbow also noted that Masvidal has just two submission wins in 52 professional MMA fights.
Chimaev's busy schedule
Chimaev lost the UFC middleweight title to Sean Strickland at UFC 328 in May. Our database lists the result as a five-round decision, and he is 15-1 and still ranked No. 1 in the UFC middleweight division.
Since then he has stayed active in grappling and wrestling. According to Yahoo Sports, he has wrestled four times for Real American Freestyle, beating Robbie Lawler, Tyron Woodley, Gilbert Burns and Dillon Danis, and the ALF match would be his sixth non-MMA outing since the title loss.
Next up for Chimaev is Colby Covington in the main event of RAF Abu Dhabi on November 14 in Abu Dhabi, as listed on the Real American Freestyle website. That is 20 days before the Dubai date.
Masvidal's situation
Masvidal is 35-17 in MMA according to our records, with 16 wins by knockout or TKO, 17 by decision and the two by submission. His last MMA fight was a decision loss to Gilbert Burns at UFC 287 in April 2023. He lost each of his last four bouts in our database, which also include title fights against Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington. Yahoo Sports described him as a veteran who has often hinted at a return to the Octagon.
Chimaev, by contrast, has six submission wins in his 15 victories, so the style match-up is the main question around the booking.
What comes next
The Dubai date is one to watch because Chimaev has the Covington match first, and ALF has yet to release a full card or ticket details. Some social media posts have questioned whether the match is real, but ALF's own account and the outlets above present it as official, and no outlet reports otherwise.
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This article was generated with AI and may contain errors.