Hildebrandt returns at RAF 14 against Lucia Yepez
The Olympic champion has not wrestled since an injury at the US Open finals.
Sarah Hildebrandt is coming back, and she is coming back against the woman holding the belt. Justin Basch reported that the Olympic champion will face 2024 Olympic silver medalist Lucia Yepez at RAF 14 in Las Vegas. It is Hildebrandt's first match since she was injured in the US Open finals.
The setup is clean. Hildebrandt was the inaugural RAF strawweight champion after RAF 01. Yepez is 4-0 in RAF and currently holds the women's strawweight title, so the returning champ walks straight into the wrestler who has taken over the division in her absence.
What Basch said
Basch framed it as a straight return to the mat, not a tune up. His post is the only reporting on the booking so far, and it does not include a date for the match beyond the RAF 14 card in Las Vegas.
Nobody has said how long Hildebrandt has been rehabbing or what the injury at the US Open finals was. That detail has not been made public in the announcement.
The RAF 14 card keeps growing
RAF 14 in Las Vegas is already stacked. Jordan Burroughs against Caliendo was announced earlier for the October 23 date, and the card has since added a Rivera vs Arujau contender match plus Bastida vs Kerkvliet. Hildebrandt vs Yepez gives the promotion a women's title fight with two Olympic medalists in it.
For the weight, this is the match everyone wanted and nobody could book while Hildebrandt was hurt. Yepez has not lost inside RAF. Hildebrandt has not wrestled since the US Open finals. One of those things ends in Las Vegas.
What to watch: whether RAF announces the bout as a title match with Yepez's strawweight belt on the line, and whether more of the RAF 14 card fills in before October 23.
The Olympic Champ will take on 2024 Olympic Silver Medalist Lucia Yepez at RAF 14 in Las Vegas.
Yepez is 4-0 at RAF and holds the Women's Strawweight title