Rivera vs Arujau at RAF 14, winner gets Real Woods
Real American Freestyle also added Yonger Bastida vs Greg Kerkvliet to the same Las Vegas card.
Sebastian Rivera and Vito Arujau will wrestle a number one contender match at RAF 14 on October 23 in Las Vegas, Real American Freestyle announced. The winner gets Real Woods for the RAF Featherweight Championship. RAF billed it as Olympic Medalist against World Champion.
Arujau arrives off the best debut anyone has had in the promotion. He tech falled 2016 Olympic champion Soslan Ramonov 13-3 in his first RAF appearance and was named USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week for it. Rivera has already banked a win of that size in this promotion too, beating Haji Aliyev at RAF 10 in June, per Justin Basch.
Bastida vs Kerkvliet added
RAF also announced Yonger Bastida against Greg Kerkvliet for the same October 23 card, packaged as World Medalist vs NCAA Champion. InterMat called the two additions marquee matchups on an already stacked RAF 14 card. Both matches stream on Fox Nation.
That is now three announced bouts for Las Vegas, with Jordan Burroughs vs Michael Caliendo reported earlier for the same show. RAF has not said when Woods would defend the featherweight title against whoever comes out of Rivera and Arujau.
The featherweight bracket is the interesting part. Woods holds the belt and sits out this one, and the promotion has put two of the most decorated American lightweights in the sport in front of him in a straight eliminator rather than running a tournament. Whoever loses on October 23 does not have an obvious path back stated by RAF.
Before Vegas, RAF 13 goes September 18 in Miami, with Basch noting that card is locked.
What to watch
Whether RAF announces a date for the Woods title match, and whether the Rivera vs Arujau winner has to wait.
How Bastida and Kerkvliet, both heavier, fit into any belt picture RAF builds at their weight, which the promotion has not spelled out.
Olympic Medalist Sebastian Rivera and World Champion Vito Arujau face off at #RAF14 OCT 23 in Las Vegas.
Yonger Bastida takes on Greg Kerkvliet OCT 23 in Las Vegas at #RAF14
He beat Haji Aliyev back at RAF 10 in June.