By David Gerhart
USA Wrestling

TBILISI, Georgia – Five-time World and Olympic champion Kyle Snyder headlined Real American Freestyle Georgia with a pin against eight-time World and Olympic champion Abdulrashid Sadulaev to retain the men’s light heavyweight title. The first international RAF card also featured fellow Americans Kyle Dake and Helen Maroulis retaining their championship belts.

Henry Cejudo and Jake Varner are Distinguished Members of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame while Zach Elam, Brock Hardy and Zain Retherford are winners of the Hall of Fame's Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award.

The highly anticipated Snyder-Sadulaev bout went back and forth at the start. On a single-leg attack from Snyder, he converted the takedown to a pin with 1:35 left in the match and retained the men’s light heavyweight title.

In the men’s cruiserweight championship match, four-time World champion Dake scored a point in the first and second periods to outlast 2024 Olympian and World silver medalist Vladimeri Gamkrelidze in a tight 2-0 battle.

Five-time World and Olympic champion Maroulis kept hold of the women’s bantamweight title after upending Anhelina Lysak, 8-2. Maroulis is now 3-0 all-time in RAF appearances.

RAF Georgia’s main event featured 2008 Olympic champion Cejudo taking on UFC champion Merab Dvalishvili. Cejudo jumped out to an early lead and led 8-2 after the first period, but Dvalishvili outscored Cejudo 9-0 over the final two stanzas to win the bout 11-8.

2012 Olympic champion Varner made his return to the mat on Saturday but dropped a 10-0 contest to 2024 Olympic champion and three-time Olympic medalist Geno Petriashvili.

Retherford, who captured the 2023 World title and was a 2024 Olympian, lost a tight 3-3 decision on criteria to three-time World medalist Ernazar Akmataliev.

Other winners on Saturday included Vladimer Khinchegashvili, Givi Matcharashvili, Razambek Zhamalov, Anastasia Nichita, Hardy and Arman Tsarukyan.

Complete results from RAF Georgia are available below.

RAF 11 is set for Saturday, July 18, in Milwaukee, Wis., with tickets still available for purchase through Ticketmaster. Ben Askren, Adelaine Grey and Trent Hidlay are among the U.S. wrestlers on the card next weekend.

More information on Real American Freestyle is available at realamericanfreestyle.com.

Real American Freestyle Georgia

At Tbilisi, Georgia, July 11

Final Results

Men’s Lightweight – Merab Dvalishvili dec. Henry Cejudo, 11-8

Men’s Light Heavyweight (Title Match) – Kyle Snyder fall Abdulrashid Sadulaev, 4:25

Men’s Cruiserweight (Title Match) – Kyle Dake dec. Vladimeri Gamkrelidze, 2-0

Men’s Featherweight – Vladimer Khinchegashvili tech. fall Conor Beebe, 11-0

Men’s Lightweight – Ernazar Akmataliev dec. Zain Retherford, 3-3

Men’s Heavyweight – Givi Matcharashvili dec. Zach Elam, 7-3

Men’s Heavyweight – Geno Petriashvili tech. fall Jake Varner, 10-0

Women’s Bantamweight (Title Match) – Helen Maroulis dec. Anhelina Lysak, 8-2

Men’s Catchweight – Razambek Zhamalov dec. Jarrett Jacques, 3-2

Women’s Bantamweight – Anastasia Nichita dec. Sangeeta Phogat, 7-6

Men’s Featherweight – Brock Hardy tech. fall Alibeg Alibegov, 13-2

Men’s Middleweight – Arman Tsarukyan tech. fall Kuat Khamitov, 11-0