RAF Adds Two Matches to August 30th Card

Two more matches have been added to Real American Freestyle’s (RAF) inaugural card and each will feature opponents with world-level credentials clashing. They are Yianni Diakomihalis vs. Bajrang Punia and Bo Nickal against Jacob Cardenas. 

Diakomihalis and Punia are both past world finalists. Punia is an Olympic bronze medalist and a four-time world medalist - placing second once and third on three occasions. He also has a pair of gold medals from the Asian Championships. The Indian star earned a reputation for being one of the more exciting and high-scoring wrestlers of his era.

Diakomihalis was a four-time national champion for Cornell and has appeared on two Senior world teams. He claimed a silver medal at the 2022 World Championships and stopped a 15-year medal-less drought for the United States at 65 (and 66) kg. Diakomihalis won the 2025 US Open and was recently in action at Final X, where he dropped a three-match series to fellow New York native, PJ Duke. 

The pair clashed in the co-main event of the 2019 Beat the Streets NYC event and Diakomihalis stunned Punia scoring in a late scramble to win 10-8. 

We recently discussed the signing of 2019 Hodge Trophy winner and UFC star Bo Nickal. The three-time national champion from Penn State is making his return to the wrestling mat after suffering his first MMA loss earlier this year. In addition to his collegiate exploits, Nickal is also a U23 world champion and was a finalist at the 2020 Olympic Team Trials. 

Nickal will take on three-time NCAA All-American Jacob Cardenas. Cardenas earned All-American honors twice for Cornell before moving on to Michigan as a graduate student. At Michigan, Cardenas won the 2025 Big Ten title at 197 lbs and earned the top seed at nationals. In Philadelphia, Cardenas finished fourth for a second consecutive season. 

On the freestyle scene, Cardenas has been a member of the U23 world team in each of the last three years. Each time, Cardenas has returned with a world medal - twice taking silver. 
 

RAF’s August 30th card now looks like this:

• Real Woods vs. Darrion Caldwell
• Austin Gomez vs. Lance Palmer 
• Sarah Hildebrandt vs. Zeltzin Hernandez Guerra 
• Kennedy Blades vs. Alejandra Rivera Arriaga
• Bo Nickal vs. Jacob Cardenas
• Yianni Diakomihalis vs. Bajrang Punia