Real American Freestyle (RAF) rolls into the Watsco Center in Miami tonight with its thirteenth event, and the promotion has loaded the mats with enough UFC star power to feel like a grudge-fueled pay-per-view rather than a grappling showcase.
At the top of the bill sits a simmering rivalry. Colby Covington, the former UFC Welterweight title challenger who has built a career on friction and feuds, meets former UFC Welterweight champion Belal Muhammad for the RAF Cruiserweight crossover championship at 190 pounds. Both men arrive with reputations forged in five-round wars inside the cage; tonight, they test each other in the unforgiving precision of freestyle wrestling, where one mistake can flip a match on its head.
The stakes are obvious. For Covington, it is a chance to reassert himself as an elite competitor in any combat arena. For Muhammad, it is an opportunity to add another belt to a résumé already stamped with UFC gold. The animosity between them only sharpens the edges of a matchup that was already compelling on pure sporting terms.
Chimaev–Burns: Violence Reignited at Catchweight
If the main event is about bad blood, the co-main is about unfinished business. Khamzat Chimaev, the former UFC Middleweight champion, returns to the mats against former UFC title challenger Gilbert Burns in a catchweight showdown. Their UFC clash was one of the most ferocious three-round fights in recent memory; now, stripped of strikes and confined to wrestling, their physicality and scrambling ability take center stage.
Chimaev brings the suffocating pressure that made him a phenomenon. Burns counters with world-class grappling of his own, honed over years of jiu-jitsu and high-level MMA. Every tie-up between them carries the memory of their brutal stand-up exchanges, even if tonight’s battle is decided by takedowns, rides, and escapes rather than punches and kicks.
Titles Everywhere You Look
RAF 13 doesn’t coast beneath its double headliner. It loads the main card with championship implications across multiple divisions, blending pure wrestling pedigree with UFC name recognition.
At 150 pounds, Kennedy Blades faces Diana Avsaragova with the RAF Women’s Middleweight Championship on the line. Blades arrives as one of the most talked-about talents in American wrestling, a relentless scorer with a high pace. Avsaragova, better known to many from her MMA exploits, steps into a purist’s arena where every point matters and every scramble can define a match.
The bantamweights take their turn in the spotlight at 135 pounds, where Austin DeSanto meets Arsen Harutyunyan for the RAF Bantamweight Championship. DeSanto is known for his aggression and tempo, the kind of wrestler who forces opponents into mistakes. Harutyunyan, with deep international experience, offers a contrasting style built on timing and technical sharpness. It has all the ingredients of a tactical firefight.
At 175 pounds, Jason Nolf defends or contests the RAF Middleweight Championship against Julian Ramirez. Nolf, a decorated collegiate star, thrives in open, attacking exchanges. Ramirez will need to find ways to slow him down, control ties, and deny the kind of flowing offense that can break matches open in seconds.
The Featherweight Crossover Championship at 145 pounds has already delivered a clear result: Cayden Henschel defeated Johnni DiJulius on points, 7–2, to claim the RAF Featherweight Crossover crown. Henschel’s win underscores the event’s mission—bridging content creators, crossover athletes, and hardened competitors under one competitive rule set.
UFC Names, New Battleground
One of the card’s biggest curiosities lands at 215 pounds, where former UFC champion Luke Rockhold meets UFC Middleweight contender Joe Pyfer. For Rockhold, it is another chapter in a long, winding combat sports journey. For Pyfer, it is a promotional debut with a statement opportunity: beat a former UFC champion in a wrestling-focused environment and announce himself as a crossover threat.
The card keeps rolling with high-level pairings across the board:
- At 165 pounds, Michael Caliendo faces Timur Bizhoev in a matchup that should test Caliendo’s pace against Bizhoev’s physicality.
- Another 165-pound bout sees Bryce Meredith take on Movlid Khaybulaev, a clash between a blue-chip American wrestling product and a seasoned international competitor.
- At 190 pounds, Georgios Kougioumtsidis meets Chance Marsteller in what promises to be a bruising, grind-heavy affair between two powerful, positionally sound wrestlers.
- At 155 pounds, Jacori Teemer scored a 9–6 points victory over Haji Aliyev, a notable scalp against a world-class technician and a statement that Teemer’s style translates at this level.
The undercard has already produced emphatic finishes. At 175 pounds, Cesar Alvan pinned Jeremiah Moody in the second period, seizing momentum and never letting it go. In a catchweight attraction, Mugzy did the same to Real Tarzann, securing a second-period pin that brought the crowd to its feet and showed how quickly these matches can flip from tense to terminal.
A Platform Built for Collision
RAF 13, streaming exclusively on FOX Nation from 8 p.m. ET, feels less like a niche grappling event and more like a collision point for modern combat sports. UFC champions, title challengers, collegiate stars, and viral personalities all share the same mat, stripped of gloves and game plans tailored for striking.
Tonight, reputations built in cages, on college gyms, and across social media meet under one simple demand: can you outwrestle the person in front of you?
For Covington, Muhammad, Chimaev, Burns, Rockhold, Pyfer, and the rest, the answer will not come from hype or history. It will come from the scoreboard.
