RAF 07

RAF 07: Tsarukyan vs. Poullas 2 was a professional freestyle wrestling event produced by Real American Freestyle (RAF), held on March 28, 2026 at the Yuengling Center in Tampa, Florida. It was the seventh event in the promotion's first year of operation, and it was headlined by a middleweight rematch between Arman Tsarukyan and Georgio Poullas, booked after their post-match brawl at RAF 06 the previous month.^{1 • 2}

Background

Real American Freestyle (RAF) is a professional freestyle wrestling league founded in 2025 by Chad Bronstein, Israel Martinez, and Eric Bischoff, with the professional wrestling personality Hulk Hogan involved as commissioner before his death shortly before the promotion's first event. The league describes itself as the first unscripted professional freestyle wrestling promotion, staging individual bouts under USA Wrestling rules rather than scripted matches, and all of its events stream live exclusively on Fox Nation.^{6 • 7}

The league ran monthly through its first year: RAF 01 in Cleveland (August 2025), RAF 02 in State College, RAF 03 in Chicago, RAF 04 in Indianapolis, and RAF 05 in Miami, followed by RAF 06 in Tempe, Arizona on February 28, 2026.⁶ RAF 07 was announced on February 5, 2026 as the league's Tampa debut, its seventh event in as many months.¹

The rematch storyline. At RAF 06, seconds after the final buzzer of the Tsarukyan–Poullas bout, Tsarukyan punched Poullas in the jaw, igniting a mass brawl on the mat. The incident immediately led to a rematch being booked as the main event of RAF 07 in Tampa.² A companion program, Raf 07: Road the Rematch (2026, 37 minutes, Fox Nation), had commentator and former UFC fighter Chael Sonnen sit down with Poullas and Tsarukyan to revisit the brawl and preview the rematch.⁸

Card

The announced card paired Olympic and collegiate wrestling stars with crossover mixed martial arts names. In the headline non-title bouts, Bo Bassett, 2-0 in RAF with wins over Cayden Henschel and Darrion Caldwell, faced the Georgian wrestler Vladimer Khinchegashvili, the 2016 Olympic gold medalist, 2012 Olympic silver medalist, 2015 world champion, and three-time European champion, at 145 lb.⁶ The co-main event put former UFC welterweight title contender Colby Covington, making his RAF debut, against Dillon Danis in a 190-pound cruiserweight contest.³

Four championship matches anchored the main card: Kyle Dake against Parker Keckeisen at 190 lb, Kyle Snyder against Akhmed Tazhudinov at 215 lb, Kennedy Blades against Milana Dudieva for the 150-pound women's title, and Wyatt Hendrickson against Trent Hillger for the 285-pound heavyweight title.³

The broadcast commentary team combined wrestling and mixed martial arts backgrounds: WWE Hall of Famer and Olympic wrestling champion Kurt Angle, former UFC contender Chael Sonnen, broadcaster Cyrus Fees, and former UFC bantamweight champion Julianna Pena.³

Results and aftermath

USA Wrestling's report on the event was headlined by the light heavyweight title bout, in which Kyle Snyder edged Akhmed Tazhudinov in a meeting of Olympic champions, while Kyle Dake, Kennedy Blades, and Wyatt Hendrickson retained their belts.⁴ Fox Nation's post-event press conference, published the same weekend, described new champions crowned and new rivalries formed, with the stars of RAF 07 previewing the next event, RAF 08 in Philadelphia.⁹

RAF bouts are contested under modified freestyle rules: three 2-minute periods with a 30-second break, a 10-point lead ending the bout as a technical fall, and no overtime, with a tied score decided on criteria favoring the last wrestler to score. Takedowns are worth 2 points, standing exposure 4 or 5, and step-outs 1.⁵

Place in the RAF calendar

RAF 07 sat in the middle of the promotion's rapid first-year expansion. The league continued with RAF 08 in Philadelphia (April 2026), RAF 09 in Dallas, RAF 10 in St. Louis, and its first international event, RAF Georgia in Tbilisi, in July 2026, with all events remaining Fox Nation exclusives.^{10 • 11} By August 2026 the promotion's founder Chad Bronstein reported that the inaugural event had drawn 2,400 people and that RAF expected as many as 10,000 for its first-anniversary show in Cleveland.¹²

References

1. Real American Freestyle to Make Tampa Debut for RAF07, Full Details, PWInsider (February 5, 2026)
2. RAF 06 Results: Fight by Fight, Rafinsider
3. RAF 07 Headlines Tampa Weekend with Championship Rematches and Elite Wrestling Talent, Tournaments.com
4. Snyder edges Tazhudinov in battle of Olympic champions at RAF 07; Dake, Blades, Hendrickson retain belts, USA Wrestling / TheMat.com (March 29, 2026)
5. RAF Wrestling Rules: Real American Freestyle Scoring & Format, RafWrestling.org
6. Bassett vs. Khinchegashvili Leads Star-Studded RAF 07 Card, InterMat (February 5, 2026)
7. How Real American Freestyle Thinks It Could Change the Sport of Wrestling, Front Office Sports (August 7, 2026)
8. Raf 07: Road the Rematch, Apple TV
9. RAF 07 Post-Match Press Conference, Fox Nation (March 29, 2026)
10. RAF: Wrestling's New Main Stage, official events listing
11. Watch Real American Freestyle, Fox Nation
12. Real American Freestyle wrestling eyes growth after fast first year, Axios Cleveland (August 19, 2026)

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Documentary, docudrama, and lifestyle series › Factual entertainment and specialist-interest formats

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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