Colby Covington is treating his RAF 11 win over Arman Tsarukyan as more than a wrestling result.
Covington beat Tsarukyan in Milwaukee to claim the RAF crossover title, giving Tsarukyan his first setback under the Real American Freestyle banner. MiddleEasy covered the full RAF 11 main event result, but Covington’s post-match answer showed how personally he took the underdog role.
“Everybody was counting me out. You know, the guy hasn’t lost in years, four or five years. I think the last time Arman lost in anything was probably checkers when he was playing at his family party.”
Covington said Tsarukyan’s wider MMA form made the result feel bigger. He also predicted that Tsarukyan is still heading toward UFC lightweight gold.
“But besides that, the guy’s been on a tear. He scared Islam Makhachev out of the lightweight division. And, you know, he’s going to be the lightweight champ. He was an ultimate competitor.”
Colby Covington breaks down his upset win over Arman Tsarukyan at RAF 11:
“Everybody was counting me out. The guy hadn’t lost in four or five years. I think he’s going to be the UFC lightweight champion.
“It was a lot of validation. A lot of years, decades, of hard work,… pic.twitter.com/0vu32ocGXY
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 20, 2026
Covington Says The Win Silenced Doubters
The match had been built as a crossover test between Tsarukyan’s UFC rise and Covington’s wrestling base. Before RAF 11, MiddleEasy covered how the Covington vs. Tsarukyan title match came together, and Covington said the actual result answered the people who expected him to get run over.
“It was an honor to share the stage with Arman on Saturday night. The guy’s, you know, one of the best guys in the world. I think he’s going to be the UFC lightweight champ. So it was, it was good to get a win over him. And, you know, silence all the doubters, all the critics that counted me out in this matchup.”
Ariel Helwani asked whether the win was one of the biggest victories of Covington’s competitive career, given Tsarukyan’s momentum and the way the result validated RAF’s concept. Covington agreed.
“Yeah, you’re absolutely right, Ariel. It was a lot of validation. A lot of years and decades of hard work and overcoming and defying all the odds.”
Covington pointed to Tsarukyan’s age, prime form, and long unbeaten stretch as reasons the win carried extra weight.
“So he was on fire. He’s a lot younger than me. He’s in his prime. He hasn’t been beaten, like you said, in four, five, six years. It’s been such a long time. So it was amazing to overcome that.”
He then turned the answer into the same self-belief message he has leaned on throughout his career.
“But that’s the spirit of all us Americans. It doesn’t matter what the odds are. It doesn’t matter who else believes in us. As long as you believe in yourself, that’s what matters the most.”
The next chapter moved quickly. Covington’s RAF win fed into a press conference clash with Belal Muhammad, and MiddleEasy covered the RAF 12 matchup that followed. The Tsarukyan result remains the piece Covington is using as proof that the crossover format can expose more than name value.
