Maroulis Signed and Added to RAF 02 Card; Snyder Pulled Due to Injury

There are a couple of newsworthy items regarding Real American Freestyle’s RAF 02 that broke today. The first is that 2016 Olympic Gold Medalist and three-time Olympic medalist Helen Maroulis has signed with RAF. Last week, Maroulis won her fourth world title and eighth world medal overall. Her appearance at the 2025 Senior World Championships made her the first American to compete in 12 World Championship events.

Per a report from the AP, retweeted by RAF’s Chief Media Officer Eric Bischoff, Maroulis is set to make her debut with the organization on the RAF 02 card. Her opponent is said to be Canada’s Samantha Stewart. Stewart competed at the 2025 World Championships, but did not medal or meet Maroulis. In 2021, Stewart earned a world bronze medal competing in the 53 kg weight class.

The RAF 02 card is set for October 25th and will be held on the campus of Penn State University, at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Additional news related to that card is that Kyle Snyder has been pulled due to an injury sustained at the World Championships and Moldovan Aleksandr Romanov has taken his place opposite Mason Parris. Romanov’s last major competition was in 2023, when he finished 11th at the European Championships. His best world finish was an eighth-place showing in 2019.

Parris will be making his return to the mat after stepping away for the bulk of 2025 to try out with the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers.

With the changes to the card, RAF 02 now looks like this:

(Unknown Weights at the time) - Helen Maroulis vs. Samantha Stewart

Open - Keelon Jimison vs. Cayden Henschel

Heavyweight (Unlimited) - Patrick Downey III vs. Jake Varner

Bantamweight (135 lbs) - Nathan Tomasello (champ) vs. Roman Bravo-Young

Heavyweight (Unlimited) - Mason Parris vs. Aleksandr Romanov