Starocci/Jackson Cruiserweight Bout Added to RAF 02 Card

On Friday evening, Real American Freestyle (RAF) announced the tenth and presumably final bout to their upcoming RAF 02 card. Five-time NCAA champion Carter Starocci will take on two-time NCAA All-American Nate Jackson in a cruiserweight collision (190 lbs). 

The event is slated to take place at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center on October 25th. Starocci just finished his collegiate career wrestling for the Nittany Lions earlier this year. In one of the most anticipated bouts of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, Starocci held off fellow national champion, Parker Keckeisen, in a 4-3 victory. Starocci finished his career with a 103-4 career record for Penn State. Two of those losses came at the 2024 Big Ten Championships when Starocci purposely injury defaulted to give an injured knee more recovery time for NCAA’s. 

Starocci also has some excellent credentials on the freestyle circuit. In 2022, Starocci was a bronze medalist at the U23 World Championships . Earlier this year, Starocci defeated past world team member Chance Marsteller, 4-2, to wrestle in the World Team Trials finals. There he fell via criteria to fellow Nittany Lion Wrestling Club member Kyle Dake. Starocci defeated Keckeisen again at Final X to earn a spot on the national team at 86 kg. 

Jackson was a two-time All-American for Indiana University, but really improved post-college and became a mainstay on the Senior level. In 2024, he was a Pan-American champion. Earlier this year, Jackson finished with a bronze medal at the Zagreb Open Ranking Series event. His only loss at that event was to the eventual world champion, Zahid Valencia. 

Jackson has not made a world team but was incredibly close in 2022. That year, he traveled to Final X Stillwater and took one match from J’den Cox in their three-match series. Jackson was also third in the Challenge Tournament at the 2024 Olympic Team Trials. 

After the Zagreb Open, Jackson did not participate in the Trials process for the 2025 World Team. 

With the addition of the Starocci/Jackson match, this is what the RAF 02 card looks like. Since RAF 01, had ten bout on it, I’d assume this might be the final product. 

Cruiserweight (190 lbs) - Carter Starocci vs. Nate Jackson

Bantamweight (135 lbs) - Nico Megaludis vs. Andriy Yatsenko

Welterweight (165 lbs) - James Green vs. Tajmuraz Salkazanov

Welterweight (165 lbs) - David Carr vs. Amr Reda - championship bout

Cruiserweight (190 lbs) - Kyle Dake (champ) vs. Boris Makoev

Women’s Flyweight (120 lbs) - Helen Maroulis vs. Samantha Stewart - championship bout

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