General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

RAF 05

RAF 05 (also written RAF05) was the fifth professional wrestling event staged by Real American Freestyle (RAF), an unscripted freestyle wrestling promotion, held on January 10, 2026 at the Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida, and broadcast live and exclusively on Fox Nation.¹ The card was headlined by former UFC welterweight champion Colby Covington against former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, and it produced three championship matches, a weight-miss controversy that settled a title without a match, and the freestyle debut of UFC lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Event	RAF05, the fifth Real American Freestyle card; January 10, 2026, Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise, Florida¹
Broadcast	Live exclusively on Fox Nation from 8 pm EST, with support from partners Real American Beer, Takedown, and Novartis²^•¹
Main event	Colby Covington defeated Luke Rockhold by technical fall, 12-0³
Title changes	Austin DeSanto took the Bantamweight Championship from Nathan Tomasello, 11-1; Kyle Dake and the light heavyweight picture were unaffected by in-ring results⁴^•²
Weight-miss fallout	Yoel Romero missed weight, was stripped of his interim light heavyweight title, and Bo Nickal was recognized as undisputed RAF Light Heavyweight Champion at 205 lbs without competing²
Debut	Arman Tsarukyan, the UFC's No. 1 lightweight contender, beat former PFL champion Lance Palmer 10-0 by technical fall in roughly ninety seconds⁵
Business result	The event gave Fox Nation its best day for new subscriptions in more than a year, after which the platform extended its exclusive agreement with the promotion⁶

Context in the RAF calendar

Real American Freestyle operates under the executive direction of Chad Bronstein, Izzy Martinez, and Eric Bischoff, and its flagship cards air on Fox Nation.¹ RAF 05 was the promotion's first card of 2026, following RAF 04 on December 20, 2025 in Fishers, Indiana, where Wyatt Hendrickson retained the Heavyweight Championship against Mason Parris.⁷ The next card, RAF 06, was set for February 28, 2026 in Tempe, Arizona, headlined by Henry Cejudo against Urijah Faber.⁷ A press conference previewing RAF 05 was held at the Amerant Bank Arena on January 9, 2026, featuring the full card and hosted by Bronstein and Martinez; it was carried as a 1 hour 29 minute episode on Fox platforms.¹^•⁸

The promotion positions itself as a league for elite wrestlers with crossover appeal, and RAF 05 illustrated both directions of that traffic: UFC veterans Covington, Rockhold, and Tsarukyan competed under wrestling rules, while active NCAA-affiliated talent such as Bo Bassett appeared on the same card.¹

Weigh-in changes to the card

Three wrestlers missed weight on the day of the event, forcing changes to the card and the title picture. Yoel Romero was stripped of his interim champion status, and as a result Bo Nickal, who had been scheduled to face him in a light heavyweight title unification bout, did not compete and was instead recognized as the undisputed RAF Light Heavyweight Champion at 205 lbs. Stephen Buchanan also missed weight; Romero and Buchanan, originally booked against different opponents, were paired in a featured unlimited-weight match that evening. The promotion initially misreported that Buchanan had missed weight for a match against Pat Downey, and issued a correction and apology to Buchanan and his camp.²

Results

The full card, with results as reported by USA Wrestling:³

Men's Cruiserweight: Colby Covington tech. fall Luke Rockhold, 12-0
Men's Cruiserweight (title match): Kyle Dake dec. Mahamedkhabib "Kadik" Kadzimahamedau, 10-7
Men's Catchweight: Arman Tsarukyan tech. fall Lance Palmer, 10-0
Men's Featherweight (title match): Jordan Oliver dec. Real Woods, 3-3
Men's Light Heavyweight: Stephen Buchanan tech. fall Yoel Romero, 10-0
Men's Cruiserweight: Zahid Valencia dec. Nate Jackson, 4-0
Men's Bantamweight (title match): Austin DeSanto tech. fall Nathan Tomasello, 11-1
Men's Featherweight: Bo Bassett tech. fall Cayden Henschel, 14-4
Men's Heavyweight: Mostafa Elders dec. Steve Mocco, 6-1
Men's Featherweight: Johnni DiJulius tech. fall Pat Lugo, 11-0
Men's Open: Georgio Poullas tech. fall Keelon Jimison, 11-1

The featherweight result between Lugo and DiJulius is reported inconsistently: USA Wrestling's official results list list DiJulius as the winner by 11-0 technical fall, while PWInsider's event report states that Pat Lugo dominated Johnni DiJulius for a second-round win, and The Scrap lists Lugo as the winner by 11-0 technical fall.³^•¹^•⁴

Championship matches

Cruiserweight. Kyle Dake retained his title with a 10-7 decision over Mahamedkhabib Kadzimahamedau in what RAF coverage called the match of the night, a rematch of their 2020 Olympic quarterfinal, which Kadzimahamedov had won.³^•⁵

Bantamweight. Austin DeSanto defeated champion Nathan Tomasello 11-1 by technical fall to take the belt Tomasello had defended twice. RAF coverage described it as the most one-sided title fight in the promotion's history to that point.⁴^•⁵ The bout had been announced in December 2025, pairing Tomasello, whose win over Matt Ramos at RAF 01 was the first match and first title in RAF history, against DeSanto, who had won his prior RAF match by 10-0 technical fall.⁹

Featherweight. Jordan Oliver and Real Woods ended their title match tied 3-3; because Oliver scored the last point, he was awarded the decision and the championship.⁴

Notable performances and moments

Tsarukyan's debut. Arman Tsarukyan entered RAF 05 days after UFC president Dana White said his headbutt on Dan Hooker before their November fight factored "100 percent" into his being passed over for a lightweight title shot. Tsarukyan had promised no headbutts, and he shut out former PFL champion Lance Palmer 10-0 by technical fall in the first period, in roughly ninety seconds, despite never having competed internationally in wrestling.¹⁰^•⁵

Covington vs Rockhold. The main event was Covington's return to competitive wrestling since his collegiate career, a cruiserweight match between two UFC veterans.¹³ Covington won by 12-0 technical fall.³^•⁸

Other moments. Georgio Poullas, a social media personality making his formal competitive debut, opened the event with a first-round technical fall over Keelon "Mugzy" Jimison.¹^•¹¹ Henry Cejudo appeared on stage after a callout from Bo Bassett, country singer Brantley Gilbert walked Covington to the ring, and Michael Chandler challenged Jordan Burroughs and Eddie Alvarez to face him in the promotion.¹ Commentary was provided by Cyrus Fees, Kurt Angle, Chael Sonnen, and Julianna Pena.¹

Aftermath

The event's audience impact was measurable: RAF 05 in Florida gave Fox Nation its best day for new subscriptions in more than a year, and the platform subsequently extended its agreement with the promotion and secured exclusive rights to its future shows.⁶ The full replay remains available on Fox Nation, the promotion's exclusive broadcast home.⁵ The promotion returned to the Miami area for RAF 13 on September 18, 2026 at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, its first Miami-area card since RAF 05 in January.¹² Tsarukyan returned at RAF 06 in a co-main event against Georgio Poullas.⁵

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Celebrity, family, lifestyle, and court reality series › Lifestyle, dating, and docusoaps › Celebrity and family docusoaps

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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