Real American Freestyle is a freestyle wrestling promotion co-founded by Hulk Hogan in 2025.
Unlike traditional MMA, RAF uses straight freestyle wrestling rules — takedowns, exposure points, gut wrenches, pins — making outcomes easier to predict than sports with subjective judging. But here’s the thing, it is not scripted. As soon as the fight starts, each fighter will compete to win like in a boxing or MMA competitive matchup.
Cards mix dedicated freestyle wrestlers holding weight-class titles with crossover names from MMA competing in separate “Crossover Championship” divisions, so bettors should always check which bracket a bout falls into before comparing styles.
When you pull up RAF wrestling odds, you’ll typically find a few core markets: a moneyline on the outright winner, method-of-victory props (decision, technical fall/tech superiority, pin), and total-points-style overs/unders on how one-sided a bout gets.
If you’re looking to bet on RAF specifically, a few things matter more here than in typical MMA betting:
- Style matchup over name value. A decorated Olympic-level wrestler can be a live underdog against a bigger name with less mat pedigree — freestyle scoring rewards constant engagement, not power or reputation.
- Cardio and pace. Matches are shorter than MMA rounds but relentless; wrestlers who “wear down” opponents late tend to cover in longer, grinding bouts, which matters for method-of-victory and total-points props.
- Crossover vs pure wrestling divisions. Titles like the Crossover Lightweight and Cruiserweight belts exist specifically to let MMA veterans compete for hardware without facing RAF’s full-time elite wrestlers — know which division you’re betting before assuming a “champion” is the best pure wrestler at that weight.
- Thin, newer markets. The RAF betting markets are still maturing compared to UFC, so lines can swing hard on late news — check odds close to fight time rather than days in advance, since a line posted a week out may look very different by fight night. Even with UFC fighters competing in RAF, betting lines here will behave different than UFC odds.
This Weekend: RAF 12 — Dvalishvili vs Cejudo 2
RAF’s one-year anniversary show lands Saturday, August 22, at Rocket Arena in Cleveland — fittingly, the same city that hosted RAF 01. The 13-bout card airs live on Fox Nation at 8 p.m. ET.
The headliner is a rubber match with real stakes: Merab Dvalishvili and Henry Cejudo meet for the inaugural RAF Lightweight Crossover Championship. This is their third career meeting — Dvalishvili won their first encounter at UFC 298 in MMA, then edged Cejudo again in a wrestling match at RAF Georgia in July, storming back from an 8-0 deficit for a comeback win in Cejudo’s home region. Cejudo will be looking for revenge and a title to boot, while Dvalishvili has yet to lose to him across either sport.
The rest of the card is stacked: the co-main event pits Jordan Burroughs against Sean Brady at catchweight, Bo Nickal faces 2026 NCAA champion Max McEnelly, Tyron Woodley meets Joaquin Buckley at 190 pounds, and Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson takes on heavyweight Anthony Cassioppi.
This main event replaced Colby Covington vs Belal Muhammad, which was the original headliner for this weekend. That bout is the headliner now for RAF 13 on September 19, so the Crossover Cruiserweight title picture, and its own market, is on hold for now.
