Snyder, Dake, Blades defend titles, Americans roll at RAF Moscow
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by Richard Immel, USA Wrestling
Kyle Dake at the 2026 Muhamet Malo Ranking Series in Tirana, Albania.
MOSCOW – Three U.S. superstars—Kyle Snyder, Kyle Dake and Kennedy Blades—retained championship belts with impressive wins on Saturday night at RAF Moscow.
Snyder, the 2016 Olympic champion, built an early lead on 2024 Olympic champion Akhmed Tazhudinov off a four-point single leg, and pulled away late to get his second win over Bahrain’s best by an 11-5 score. It is Snyder’s fifth RAF victory at Light Heavyweight, and second over Tazhudinov. He also holds RAF wins over Olympic champion Abdulrashid Sadulaev, Olympic finalist Givi Matcharashvili and World champion Rizabek Aitmukhan.
The four-time World champion and two-time Olympic medalist Dake scored a step-out in the final moments to best Olympic silver medalist Mahamedkhabib “Kadik” Kadzimahamedau of Belarus, 7-6, for the Men’s Cruiserweight belt. It is Dake’s second RAF win over Kadzimahamedau, backing up his 10-7 decision at RAF 05.
It was light work for Blades, the Olympic silver medalist and reigning World bronze medalist, as she recorded a 10-0 technical fall against 2021 U23 World silver medalist Vusala Parfianovich of Russia to retain the Women’s Middleweight belt.
Five more American greats earned big-time wins over Russian opponents in front of a sold-out crowd at Arena Mytishchi—Six-time World champion and Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs posted a 10-0 technical fall on 2016 World champion Magomedov Kurbanaliev, 2023 World champion Vito Arujau put up a 13-3 thumping on 2016 Olympic champion Soslan Ramonov, 2025 World champion Zahid Valencia took a 9-5 decision against current European champion Ibragim Kadiev, 2024 Olympic Trials runner-up Jason Nolf edged two-time U20 World champion Ismail Khaniev on criteria, 5-5, and 2019 U23 World champion Bo Nickal took out 2008 Olympic champion Shirvani Muradov, 11-8.
Match of the Night honors were shared between the Dake-Kadzimahamedau and Nolf-Khaniev bouts.
Other winners on the night included Khamzat Chimaev, Abdulrashid Sadulaev, Shara Magomedov, Pouya Rahmani and Yusuf Raisov.
Complete results from RAF Moscow are available below. The event was not available to watch live in the U.S. market. A replay is expected to air in the U.S. next week, according to RAF.
RAF 13 is set for Sept. 18 in Miami, Fla., with tickets up for purchase on Ticketmaster. USA Wrestling notables on the card include Wyatt Hendrickson, Chance Marsteller, Greg Kerkvliet, Nolf and Blades, among others.
More information on Real American Freestyle is available at realamericanfreestyle.com.
Men’s Catchweight – Khamzat Chimaev fall Tyron Woodley
Men’s Light Heavyweight – Abdulrashid Sadulaev dec. Zac Braunagel, 8-6
Men’s Cruiserweight – Zahid Valencia dec. Ibragim Kadiev, 9-5
Men’s Cruiserweight – Shara Magomedov dec. Neiman Gracie, 11-3
Men’s Light Heavyweight (Title Match) – Kyle Snyder dec. Akhmed Tazhudinov, 11-5
Men’s Cruiserweight (Title Match) – Kyle Dake dec. Mahamedkhabib “Kadik” Kadzimahamedau, 7-6
Men’s Middleweight – Jordan Burroughs tech. fall Magomedov Kurbanaliev, 10-0
Women’s Middleweight (Title Match) – Kennedy Blades tech. fall Vusala Parfianovich, 10-0
Men’s Catchweight – Bo Nickal dec. Shirvani Muradov, 11-8
Men’s Catchweight – Jason Nolf dec. Ismail Khaniev, 5-5
Men’s Heavyweight – Pouya Rahmani dec. Anatoly Malykhin, 10-3
Men’s Middleweight – Yusuf Raisov tech. fall Marif Piraev, 10-0
Men’s Catchweight – Vito Arujau tech. fall Soslan Ramonov, 13-3
