Overview
- Covington scored a 12–0 technical fall over Rockhold at Real American Freestyle 5 in Sunrise, Florida, headlining the card at Amerant Bank Arena.
- After the win, he urged retired great Georges St‑Pierre to wrestle him under the RAF banner, citing GSP’s edge over him on the UFC welterweight takedown list.
- A planned Bo Nickal vs. Yoel Romero match collapsed when Romero missed weight by seven pounds, leading Nickal to withdraw as RAF moved to book Romero against NCAA champion Stephen Buchanan.
- Covington rejected Nickal’s subsequent callout and labeled him unreliable, saying he wants opponents who will show up as he praised RAF as the future of American wrestling.
- He said he would have stayed in wrestling rather than enter the UFC if a league like RAF had existed during his competitive prime.