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News · 22 Aug 2026

Colby Covington signs with Hype Fighting Championship for grappling

The former interim welterweight champion says he has signed for submission grappling matches, months after retiring from UFC competition.

Colby Covington has signed with Hype Fighting Championship to compete in submission grappling, he said in a video posted to his Instagram account.

"Just signed to bring the Chaos to Hype Fighting Championship," Covington said in the video.

Covington, a former interim UFC welterweight champion, retired from UFC competition this year. The promotion apparently declined to book him on the UFC Freedom 250 card at the White House.

He has stayed active since. Covington beat Arman Tsarukyan in July under the Real American Freestyle banner, ending Tsarukyan's undefeated run away from the UFC.

Covington's next RAF assignment is against a fellow former welterweight titleholder on the wrestling mats.

The Hype FC deal covers submission grappling, a different discipline from the freestyle wrestling he has been doing with RAF.

A debut date for Hype FC has not been reported.

Covington announced the signing himself, on his own account, rather than through the promotion.

Published by the FightIQ desk on 22 Aug 2026. Claims about fights and records are checked against our own graded card data before publication — the same data behind the public track record.

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