RAF 09
2026 wrestling event
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RAF 09: Steveson vs. Romanov is an upcoming freestyle wrestling event that will take place on May 30, 2026 at the College Park Center of University of Texas at Arlington in Arlington, Texas.[1]
| RAF 09: Steveson vs. Romanov | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Promotion | Real American Freestyle | |||
| Date | May 30, 2026 | |||
| Venue | College Park Center | |||
| City | Arlington, Texas | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
It will be the ninth flagship event produced by the Real American Freestyle (RAF) promotion, and will air live on Fox Nation.[1]
Background
Tickets for the event went on sale through AXS on April 10, 2026.[2]
This event was originally planned to be held in Bahrain, but was moved due to the 2026 Iran war.[3]
Former Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson will debut at this event after signing a multi-match contract with RAF, headlining against Alexander Romanov.[4][1]
RAF Women's Middleweight Champion Kennedy Blades was scheduled to defend her title against Alexis Gomez at this event, but the bout was cancelled due to injury.[5]
Zain Retherford was scheduled to face Ernazar Akmataliev, but Akmataliev withdrew and was replaced by Tömör-Ochiryn Tulga.[6][5] Retherford previously lost to Tulga in the 2024 World Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament.[7]
Match card
| Main card (Fox Nation) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Heavyweight |  Gable Steveson |
vs. |  Alexander Romanov |
||||
| Catchweight | Colby Covington |
vs. | Chris Weidman |
||||
| Light Heavyweight | Kyle Snyder (c) |
vs. |  Givi Matcharashvili |
[a] | |||
| Lightweight | Merab Dvalishvili |
vs. | Frankie Edgar |
||||
| Featherweight |  Ibragim Ilyasov |
vs. | Real Woods |
[b] | |||
| Middleweight | Christopher Minto |
vs. | Jason Nolf |
||||
| Cruiserweight | Parker Keckeisen |
vs. |  Georgios Kougioumtsidis |
||||
| Lightweight | Zain Retherford |
vs. |  Tömör-Ochiryn Tulga |
[c] | |||
| Lightweight | Ridge Lovett |
vs. |  Bajrang Punia |
[d] | |||
| Women's Catchweight | Cameron Guerin |
vs. |  Lucía Yépez |
||||
| Middleweight | Keelon Jimison |
vs. |  Arman Tsarukyan |
||||
- For the vacant RAF Featherweight Championship.
- RAF Lightweight title eliminator.
- RAF Lightweight title eliminator.
