by RAF 10 was held live tonight from St. Louis and had plenty of fireworks. If you are just a casual fan of Freestyle but a huge fan of MMA, this was the event you wanted to watch as it featured several crossover performers with the likes of Aaron Pico, Artem Khamzat and Tony Ferguson to name a few.
Let’s get right to the Thumbs up and Thumbs Down for the night.
Thumbs Up
Aaron Pico – The once dominant wrestler who made his name on the mat before having a middle of the road MMA career, proved he still has it. Pico returned to the mat tonight for the first time in 10 years after a disastrous attempt at the 2016 USA Olympic Team and dominated the legendary Lance Palmer. For Palmer, he is now 1-3 in his RAF career and despite being a flag bearer for the company, his best days appear to be behind him.
Artem Khamzat – Fresh off of a shocking loss to Sean Strickland, costing him his UFC Middleweight Championship, Khamzat bounced back in a huge way tonight with a insanely quick win in the main event over Dillion Danis. He only needed 44 seconds to pin Danis by fireman’s carry. This led Kurt Angle to drop the line of the night by saying, “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen someone get pinned like that before.” Clearly, Khamzat was not effected by his UFC title loss and can easily have a long and fruitful career in RAF if he wants it.
Arman Tsarukyan – He is not only one of the best pound for pound fights in the world of MMA, but je is now 6-0 in RAF and is a staple of the company. If he can refrain from post fight brawls it won’t be much longer until he is racking up titles in both promotions. He has been untouchable in RAF with huge wins over Uriah Faber, Lance Palmer and tonight Tony Ferguson. 4 of those 6 wins have come by Tech Fall and Tsarukyan is headed for gold.
RAF Bantam Weight Champion Austin DeSanto – He has impressive wins over Nico Megaludis, Nathan Tomasello and tonight he grinded out a thrilling 2-1 win over Reineri Andreu to retain the strap. DeSanto may not be headlining shows yet, but the more times he defends that titles successfully, it will only be a matter of time before he does.
Kurt Angle – He may be the best color commentator in the sport and plays off Chael Sonnen so well. Angle doesn’t even have to say much but the feedback he gives is absolutely priceless. So much insight from one of the greatest to ever do it.
Thumbs Down
Dillon Danis – Honestly, I hate to give anyone a thumbs down in the greatest man to man sport of them all, but Danis needs to go away and stay away. He continues to get chances because of his relationship with Conor McGregor and he continues to make a fool out of himself. It is the same story time and time again as he runs his mouth and then gets it shut. He is now 0-2 in RAF with the embarrassing losses and has caused more fights before and matches then anything else. This is a great sport, built with honor and Danis has no business near it.
