Snyder beats Tazhudinov again to keep RAF belt in Moscow
Vito Arujau, Jordan Burroughs, Bo Nickal and Zahid Valencia all won on the same card.
Kyle Snyder beat Akhmed Tazhudinov a second time to retain the RAF Light Heavyweight title in Moscow on Saturday night. Justin Basch had the score at 10-5, FloWrestling posted it as 11-5. Ben Askren, posting as Funky, said Snyder wore Tazhudinov out badly enough that the Russian would not come back to the middle.
That result headlines a night we covered earlier as three retained American belts. USA Wrestling's tally for the card was three U.S. athletes keeping championship belts and five more Americans beating Russian opponents.
Down the card
Vito Arujau opened the show with a 13-3 tech over 2016 Olympic champion Soslan Ramonov, per Basch. Jordan Burroughs teched Magomed Kurbanaliev 10-0, his second tech at RAF. Bo Nickal beat 2008 Olympic gold medalist Shirvani Muradov 11-8. Zahid Valencia took out Ibragim Kadiev 9-5, and Basch noted Kadiev beat Kyle Dake 11-4 at a Ranking Series event earlier this year.
Kennedy Blades retained her title with a 10-0 tech over Russia's Vusala Parfianovich, which Basch counted as her fifth straight tech under the RAF banner.
The hit list
Askren laid out what Snyder has now done in the promotion, listing Tazhudinov twice, Abdulrashid Sadulaev, Alisher Aitmukhan and Givi Matrashvili. Nick Kosko, looking back at how much has changed at 97 kg in a year, wrote that it seems like Snyder will be there until he is 40.
Snyder's own post after the event was about the room more than the result.
MOSCOW was electric. Sold out crowd. Matches were crazy.
Our take. The second Tazhudinov win is the one that matters most here, because the Bahraini has been the one name people used to argue the 97 kg hierarchy had moved past Snyder. RAF is not a world championship, but beating the same guy twice in the same promotion, plus Sadulaev on that list, is the kind of ledger that follows a guy into the next senior cycle.
RAF said a full U.S. replay stream will run next week, per Basch. Jason Bryant recapped the card on Mat Talk Daily, framing it as Snyder, Dake and Blades winning big and defending titles.
What to watch. Burroughs is 2 for 2 with techs at RAF, and Basch openly asked who he should face next. The promotion's next U.S. date on the calendar is RAF 14 in Las Vegas on Oct 23, where Burroughs meets Jesse Caliendo.
Again! Kyle Snyder takes out Tazhudinov, 10-5, to retain the Light Heavyweight title at RAF Moscow.
Snyder just gassed Taz so hard he wouldn鈥檛 come back to the center!!
MOSCOW was electric. Sold out crowd. Matches were crazy.