Michigan Well-Represented at Debut Real American Freestyle Event
8/31/2025 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The University of Michigan wrestling team and its Cliff Keen Wrestling Club had four total representatives, with a wrestler in nearly half the bouts, at the first-ever Real American Freestyle event, dubbed RAF01, on Saturday night (Aug. 30) at the Wolstein Center. Austin Gomez and Real Woods were among the event's 10 winners.
The new professional organization, headed by Chad Bronstein, Eric Bischoff, Izzy Martinez and the late Hulk Hogan, featured a 10-match card that included nine NCAA champions, five Olympians and four world/Olympic medalists.
Gomez, who finished his college career as an NCAA finalist for Michigan in 2024, leaned into the college rivalry after cruising to an 11-0 technical fall against former Ohio State star Lance Palmer in one of two Lightweight (155 lbs.) bouts. Gomez jumped out to an early six-point lead, scoring off the opening whistle with a pair of gut wrenches. He added a stepout point then converted another go behind and gut to end the match after just 1:02 -- then earned a showering of boos from the Cleveland crowd when he feigned planting his flag at the center of the mat.
Woods earned the first -- and so far, only -- pin in RAF history with his second-period stick of Darian Caldwell at Featherweight (145 lbs.). Woods took his first lead with a takedown and gut late in the first period, but Caldwell also earned exposure and only trailed by a point after two minutes. But Woods blew it open in the second, scoring on a go behind, earning two more guts and holding the former NC State NCAA champ on his back on the latter for the fall at 3:29.
Gomez and Woods are both slated to compete in the 2025 Senior World Championships and leave for acclimation camp over the coming days. Gomez, a 2024 Olympian, will represent Mexico at 70kg, while Woods qualified for his first world team in his first summer of freestyle wrestling and rep USA at 65kg.
In the other Lightweight bout, India's 2020 Olympic bronze medalist and two-time world medalist Bajrang Punia, who has trained in Ann Arbor for months at a time since 2021, narrowly fell 5-1 to 2022 World silver medalist Yianni Diakomihalis. After the two traded shot-clock points in the first and second periods, Diakomihalis, who earned four NCAA titles at Cornell, surged midway through the third, first neutralizing a Bajrang double-leg shot before scoring on an ankle pick and immediate stepout.
Jacob Cardenas took a late lead against Bo Nickal in the Light Heavyweight (205 lbs.) match but could not hang on, falling to the former Penn State three-time NCAA champion 6-4 in the latter's return to the wrestling mat. Cardenas rallied from a three-point deficit in the third period with a low single takedown and shot-clock point and led on criteria with around :30 left, but Nickal countered his late gut attempt and put Cardenas on his back and held him there for the remainder of the bout.
The show also featured an appearance from 2023 Hodge Trophy winner and 2024 Olympian Mason Parris, who, along with Will Lewan, ran a morning clinic in the Cleveland suburb of Beachwood, then came up on stage after current U.S. World Team member Wyatt Hendrickson closed the show with a dominant tech fall win. Parris returned to freestyle wrestling and the CKWC after participating in the L.A. Chargers' training camp last spring. He has never lost to Hendrickson.
Full Results
Bantamweight (135 lbs.) – Nathan Tomasello (Team Thunder) dec. Matt Ramos (Boilermaker RTC), 4-3
Lightweight (155 lbs.) – Yianni Diakomihalis (Spartan Combat RTC) dec. Bajrang Punia (Cliff Keen WC), 5-1
Lightweight (155 lbs.) – Austin Gomez (Cliff Keen WC) tech. Lance Palmer (Ohio RTC), 11-0
Middleweight (175 lbs.) – Evan Wick (TMWC/AWA) dec. Jason Nolf (Nolf WA/Kingsway JJ), 10-8
Strawweight (120 lbs.) – Sarah Hildebrandt (OPTC) tech. Zeltzin Hernandez (Gomez Academy), 11-0
Featherweight (145 lbs.) – Real Woods (Cliff Keen WC) pinned Darrion Caldwell (Wolfpack RTC), 3:29
Cruiserweight (190 lbs.) – Kyle Dake (NLWC/TMWC) tech. Dean Hamiti (Cowboy RTC), 11-0
Middleweight (150 lbs.) – Alejandra Rivera (Mexican National Team) dec. Holly Holm (IzzyStyle), 9-7
Light Heavyweight (205 lbs.) – Bo Nickal (NLWC) dec. Jacob Cardenas (Cliff Keen WC), 6-4
Heavyweight (Unlimited) – Wyatt Hendrickson (WCAP) tech. Mostafa Elders (Talents WC), 14-1
Players Mentioned
