{"id":675635,"date":"2026-05-31T07:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T07:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/675635\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T07:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T07:55:09","slug":"raf-9-results-gable-steveson-merab-dvalishvili-dominate-arman-tsarukyan-vs-colby-covington-set-for-july","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/675635\/","title":{"rendered":"RAF 9 results: Gable Steveson, Merab Dvalishvili dominate; Arman Tsarukyan vs. Colby Covington set for July"},"content":{"rendered":"

RAF 9 continued the promotion’s momentum Saturday with a slate of notable names sprinkled throughout the card in Dallas. In the main event, Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson made his successful debut on the RAF mats, scoring a 10-0 tech fall over UFC and PFL veteran Alexandr Romanov.<\/p>\n

Steveson, a two-time NCAA champion, recently signed with the UFC<\/a> and is widely considered the top heavyweight prospect in all of MMA. Having smashed through his combat sports competition thus far, Steveson returned to his roots and made light work of Romanov. Steveson controlled the mat for as long as it lasted; a mid-match injury hindered Romanov and nearly halted the action, but the outcome was all but inevitable.<\/p>\n

Colby Covington<\/a> returned in the night\u2019s co-main event to welcome newly minted UFC Hall of Famer Chris Weidman to the RAF mats.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The 200-pound catchweight matchup was much more competitive than some may have expected. Weidman took the early lead, and the score was 4-4 until Covington capitalized late to sneak away with the decision win at 5-4.<\/p>\n

After the match, RAF announced Covington\u2019s next target: He\u2019ll return against Arman Tsarukyan at RAF 11 on July 18 in Milwaukee. Tsarukyan picked up a 16-5 tech fall win against Keelon Jimison in the opening match of the night. Both men extended their win streaks, leaving someone set to taste defeat for the first time in RAF.<\/p>\n

Former UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili also topped former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar on the card. \u201cThe Machine\u201d spoiled Edgar\u2019s return to competition, winning a 12-1 tech fall. RAF gave the matchup \u201cMatch of the Night\u201d honors.<\/p>\n

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In the lone title tilts of the night, Kyle Snyder and Real Woods walked away with gold. Snyder shut out Givi Matcharashvili via 10-0 tech fall to defend his light heavyweight belt, while Woods scored the only pinfall of the night, defeating Ibragim Ilyasov to capture the vacant featherweight title.<\/p>\n

Check out complete RAF 9 results below, as well as Uncrowned’s live blog.<\/p>\n

Full Results:<\/p>\n

Heavyweight: Gable Steveson def. Alexandr Romanov via tech fall (10-0)<\/p>\n

Catchweight: Colby Covington def. Chris Weidman via decision (5-4)<\/p>\n

Light heavyweight championship: Kyle Snyder (c.) def. Givi Matcharashvili via tech fall (10-0)<\/p>\n

Lightweight: Merab Dvalishvili def. Frankie Edgar via tech fall (12-1)<\/p>\n

Vacant featherweight title: Real Woods def. Ibragim Ilyasov via pinfall at 2:11<\/p>\n

Cruiserweight: Parker Keckeisen def. Georgios Kougioumtsidis via decision (8-5)<\/p>\n

Middleweight: Jason Nolf def. Christopher Minto via decision (10-5)<\/p>\n

Lightweight: Zain Retherford def. Antrell Taylor via decision (8-0)<\/p>\n

Lightweight: Ridge Lovett def. Bajrang Punia via decision (13-8)<\/p>\n

Catchweight: Lucia Yepez def. Cameron Guerin via tech fall (10-0)<\/p>\n

Middleweight: Arman Tsarukyan def. Keelon \u201cMugzy\u201d Jimison via tech fall (16-5)<\/p>\n

Recap of RAF 9 with Uncrowned’s live blog below:Live coverage is over55 updates\"DrakeSat, May 30, 2026 at 8:15 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Drake Riggs<\/p>\n

\"DrakeSat, May 30, 2026 at 8:07 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Drake Riggs<\/p>\n

\"DrakeSat, May 30, 2026 at 8:05 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Drake Riggs<\/p>\n

Relatively easy work there for Steveson. A mid-match injury appeared to hinder Romanov, but it likely wouldn\u2019t have mattered.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeSat, May 30, 2026 at 7:57 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Drake Riggs<\/p>\n

The main event has arrived. Gable Steveson goes back to his roots in his RAF debut ahead of his UFC debut. He’ll look to get through the experienced Alexandr Romanov.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeSat, May 30, 2026 at 7:56 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Drake Riggs<\/p>\n

\"DrakeSat, May 30, 2026 at 7:52 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Drake Riggs<\/p>\n

After Covington’s win, it seemed to set up a match with Tsarukyan for July 18 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They stared down afterward, so look out for that one.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeSat, May 30, 2026 at 7:51 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Drake Riggs<\/p>\n

\"DrakeSat, May 30, 2026 at 7:50 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Drake Riggs<\/p>\n

\"DrakeSat, May 30, 2026 at 7:47 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Drake Riggs<\/p>\n

These two are having a highly competitive match. It\u2019s tied up at 4-4, and the size difference may be playing a factor against Covington.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeSat, May 30, 2026 at 7:36 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Drake Riggs<\/p>\n

Colby Covington is back. He welcomes Chris Weidman back to competition for the first time since the latter\u2019s UFC departure.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeSat, May 30, 2026 at 7:33 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Drake Riggs<\/p>\n

\"DrakeSat, May 30, 2026 at 7:29 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Drake Riggs<\/p>\n

\"DrakeSat, May 30, 2026 at 7:28 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Drake Riggs<\/p>\n

\"DrakeSat, May 30, 2026 at 7:16 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Drake Riggs<\/p>\n

One more title. This time, Kyle Snyder looks to successfully defend his 205-pound strap, as we have three more matches to go.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeSat, May 30, 2026 at 7:12 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Drake Riggs<\/p>\n

\"DrakeSat, May 30, 2026 at 7:09 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Drake Riggs<\/p>\n

\"DrakeSat, May 30, 2026 at 7:09 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Drake Riggs<\/p>\n

\"DrakeSat, May 30, 2026 at 6:57 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Drake Riggs<\/p>\n

Former UFC champs collide in the next match. It\u2019s the RAF debut for both Merab Dvalishvili and Frankie Edgar.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeSat, May 30, 2026 at 6:56 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Drake Riggs<\/p>\n

\"DrakeSat, May 30, 2026 at 6:49 PM PDT<\/p>\n

Drake Riggs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RAF 9 continued the promotion’s momentum Saturday with a slate of notable names sprinkled throughout the card in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":675636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[294677,227211,294679,294678,141250,294680,72636,99,294681,6493],"class_list":["post-675635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-alexandr-romanov","tag-arman-tsarukyan","tag-chris-weidman","tag-colby-covington","tag-gable-steveson","tag-merab-dvalishvili","tag-raf","tag-sports","tag-tech-fall","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/675636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}