Arman Tsarukyan’s next title fight comes on a wrestling mat. Five weeks after knocking out Mauricio Ruffy at UFC 331, Tsarukyan meets Dillon Danis for the inaugural RAF Middleweight Crossover Championship in the main event of RAF 14.
The card takes place Friday, October 23 at the BleauLive Theater inside Fontainebleau Las Vegas, starting at 9 p.m. ET live on Fox Nation. Ten matches are announced, and three of them carry titles.
Tsarukyan Brings Title Shot Momentum
Tsarukyan finished Ruffy with back-to-back elbows at 4:56 of the first round, his sixth straight win, then accused lightweight champion Justin Gaethje of avoiding him. Dana White said Tsarukyan had turned his title hopes around, but no UFC fight is booked, and RAF has confirmed he’ll wrestle again at its Abu Dhabi debut on November 14.
On the mats, Tsarukyan is 7-1 with wins over Urijah Faber, Tony Ferguson and Georgio Poullas. His only RAF loss came when Colby Covington outpointed him at RAF 11 in July.
Danis is still chasing his first RAF win. Covington beat him in March, and Khamzat Chimaev beat him in 45 seconds at RAF 10 in June before the two brawled on stage. Danis then pulled out of his August 29 MMA fight with Mike Perry, citing an arm laceration, and RAF 14 moved from October 3 to October 23 shortly after.
Two More Belts On The Line
Lucía Yépez defends the RAF Women’s Strawweight Championship against 2024 Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hildebrandt.
Jordan Oliver, a former RAF featherweight champion, meets Ridge Lovett for the vacant RAF Lightweight Championship. The belt opened up in April when Yianni Diakomihalis was stripped of the title for reasons that were not disclosed.
Michael Page Debuts As A Free Agent
Michael “Venom” Page makes his RAF debut at cruiserweight against fellow Bellator alum Alexander Shlemenko. The match was booked in August, before the UFC chose not to re-sign Page after a 5-1 run in the Octagon, so he now arrives in Las Vegas without an MMA home.
Shlemenko, 42, won the Bellator middleweight title in 2013 and defended it three times. He has 89 professional MMA fights and last competed at ACA in June. It’s also his first RAF appearance.
A Featherweight Title Shot Up For Grabs
Sebastian Rivera and Vito Arujau wrestle in a No. 1 contender match, with the winner earning a shot at RAF Featherweight Champion Real Woods, the promotion announced.
Rivera, a 2024 Olympic bronze medalist, beat three-time world champion Haji Aliyev 9-5 in his RAF debut at RAF 10. Arujau, the 2023 world champion, beat Olympic champion Soslan Ramonov 13-3 at RAF Moscow. The pair met twice at the 2019 NCAA Championships, with Rivera winning both, according to InterMat.
Jordan Burroughs returns at middleweight against Michael Caliendo after his shutout tech fall of Sean Brady at RAF 12. Greg Kerkvliet, the 2024 NCAA champion at Penn State, takes on Yonger Bastida at heavyweight, and Pat Downey faces former MMA champion Magomed Magomedkerimov at catchweight.
RAF 14 Full Card
- Arman Tsarukyan vs. Dillon Danis, Middleweight Crossover Championship
- Lucía Yépez (c) vs. Sarah Hildebrandt, Women’s Strawweight Championship
- Jordan Oliver vs. Ridge Lovett, vacant Lightweight Championship
- Alexander Shlemenko vs. Michael Page, Cruiserweight
- Nathan Tomasello vs. Roman Bravo-Young, Bantamweight
- Nick Suriano vs. Dylan Ragusin, Featherweight
- Jordan Burroughs vs. Michael Caliendo, Middleweight
- Sebastian Rivera vs. Vito Arujau, Featherweight No. 1 Contender
- Yonger Bastida vs. Greg Kerkvliet, Heavyweight
- Pat Downey vs. Magomed Magomedkerimov, Catchweight
