The main event lasted 78 seconds. Tsarukyan opened with what appeared to be a slap, drawing a quick warning from the referee, then scored with a step-out, a takedown, another step-out and a run of gut-wrench turns to build the 10-point lead before Danis could settle into the match. It was the kind of performance his RAF record suggested was coming: he is now 8-1 in the promotion, with his only loss coming to Colby Covington, and five weeks ago he knocked out Mauricio Ruffy at UFC 331 to stake his claim to the next UFC lightweight title shot.
The ending is what will be replayed. As Danis tried to get up after the match had finished, Tsarukyan stepped on his chest, and security flooded the mat expecting another melee. It capped a week of hostility: at Thursday’s press conference, Tsarukyan swung at Danis after an insult aimed at Chimaev, setting off a brawl. This time, though, Danis kept his composure. He did not retaliate, and he stood and shook Tsarukyan’s hand. Tsarukyan, for his part, was already looking ahead. “No, it’s over if we fight together,” he said. “I’m wrestling back to back with high level grapplers. Come to support me in Abu Dhabi.” Danis remains winless in RAF after losses to Covington, Chimaev and now Tsarukyan. Tsarukyan’s first defence comes quickly: he faces Neiman Gracie in the co-main event of RAF Abu Dhabi on November 14.
Chimaev’s night was just as decisive. The former UFC middleweight champion took Lawler down early and turned him repeatedly on the mat, closing out the 11-0 technical fall at 1:40 of the first period. Lawler, 44, was competing for the first time since retiring from MMA in 2023 and wrestling competitively for the first time since high school in Iowa, and the gap in mat experience showed. Chimaev moves to 3-0 in RAF and stays unbeaten in the promotion, and his next stop is the biggest of his wrestling run: the Abu Dhabi main event against Covington, who is 5-0 in RAF and holds the cruiserweight crossover title.
The rest of the card produced the night’s genuine drama. Caliendo beat Burroughs 7-5 in what many saw as a passing of the torch, a significant result for the Olympic and world champion, and one that comes three weeks before Burroughs had been expected back in Abu Dhabi for his rematch with Azamat Nurykau. Lucia Yepez retained the women’s strawweight championship with an 8-7 decision over Sarah Hildebrandt in a match that went the full three periods, Sebastian Rivera produced a comeback win over Vito Arujau, and Dylan Ragusin won by first-period technical fall over Juan Archuleta.
For RAF, the Las Vegas debut did exactly what the promotion is built to do: put recognisable MMA names on the mats, give the pure wrestlers a stage of their own, and let the results generate the next card. Tsarukyan and Chimaev are both headed to Abu Dhabi on November 14, one as a new champion with a belt to defend and the other with Covington in front of him. The question three weeks from now is whether either man gets pushed the way neither was in Las Vegas.
