Three Bouts Added to RAF Moscow Card

We’re just over a month away from Real American Freestyle’s (RAF) first event from Russia, which will take place on September 5th. The event is starting to come together from a card standpoint, with the organization announcing three marquee matches in the last two days.

This event will mark the second appearance for six-time world champion and 2012 Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs. Burroughs is set to debut for the organization later this month against UFC fighter Sean Bradly. In Russia, Burroughs will face 2016 world champion Magomed Kurbanaliev. Kurbanaliev has also won titles at the World Military Championships, the European Championships, and the Ivan Yarygin Memorial.

2025 world champion Zahid Valencia has also been added to the card and will square off with rising star Ibrahim Kadiev. Kadiev is a two-time U20 world champion and defeated Josh Barr to capture the second of those titles in 2024. At the 2025 World Championships, Kadiev fell by a point to Iran’s Kamren Ghasempour in the quarterfinals. A round later, Valencia defeated the Iranian by a 7-0 score.

Earlier this year, Kadiev defeated Kyle Dake en route to winning a title at the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series event. After winning that tournament, Kadiev earned gold at the Senior European Championships for the first time.

This will be Valencia’s fifth match under the RAF banner. He was beaten by Parker Keckeisen in his first appearance, but is now on a three-match winning streak.

More star power is on the slate as Bo Nickal will face 2008 Olympic champion Shirvani Muradov. Also a Russian and European champion, Muradov captured gold in the 96 kg Olympic weight class where Daniel Cormier was unable to compete.

Nickal defeated Jacob Cardenas on the first RAF card, but hasn’t been in action since. Like Burroughs, Nickal is also slated to compete on August’s RAF 12 offering. He’ll take on 2026 NCAA champion Max McEnelly on that card.

These three matches will be added to a card that includes:

Catchweight - Khamzat Chimaev vs Tyron Woodley

Heavyweight (UNL) - Anatoly Malykhn (Russia) vs. Pouya Rahmani (Iran)

Middleweight (175 lbs) - Yusuf Raisov (Russia) vs. Marif Piraev (Russia)