Rosas Jr Submits Covington in 40 Seconds in Rome Grappling Shock

Raul Rosas Jr needed less than a minute to stun Colby Covington in Rome. The UFC bantamweight, who accepted the submission-only grappling match on a day's notice after Dillon Danis pulled out for undisclosed reasons, took the main event of the Hype Fighting Championship show at the PalaPellicone arena on Tuesday. Rosas secured an early takedown, took Covington's back and locked in a rear-naked choke, forcing the former interim UFC welterweight champion to tap in just 40 seconds. Covington has enjoyed success in wrestling promotion RAF since retiring from MMA and leaving the UFC in May, but he had no answer for the speed of the finish. Rosas is currently on a five-fight winning streak in the UFC's bantamweight division, and the result underlined his grappling pedigree against a much larger, vastly more experienced opponent. Conor McGregor, whose Forged Irish Stout brand sponsored the event, later pushed back on social-media framing of his reaction at the show, insisting a clip of him laughing had been misplaced. Rosas now returns to the mats on November 14 against former UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev for RAF Abu Dhabi.