RAF 01 Preview: Cowboy National Champs Wyatt Hendrickson, Dean Hamiti Set to Wrestle This Weekend

A highly anticipated freestyle wrestling league gets going this weekend, and a pair of Cowboy national champions are set to compete at the event.

Real American Freestyle (RAF) hosts RAF 01 from the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio. RAF is a newly developed league that had the backing of professional wrestler Hulk Hogan before his passing last month.

Wyatt Hendrickson and Dean Hamiti Jr. are each scheduled to wrestle.

Hamiti has a tough challenge ahead of him in four-time world champ and four-time NCAA champ Kyle Dake.

The two will wrestle at 190 pounds, which is heavier than Hamiti has been wrestling at. Hamiti won a national championship this past season at 174 pounds and wrestled at 79 kg (about 174 pounds) at the U.S. Open and the World Team Trails this summer.

Hendrickson will wrestler Egypt’s Mostafa Elders in a heavyweight contest. Elders competed at the Olympics last year at 97 kg after winning the African Games and the Seniors African and Oceania Olympic Qualifier. He also competed at the 2023 World Championships.

Hendrickson has a ton of momentum behind him after his monumental win at the NCAA Championships against Gable Steveson. He parlayed that into a win at the U.S. Open and a win at Final X to secure his spot on the World Team. He’ll represent the United State’s at the World Championships in September.

After winning his NCAA title this past season, Hamiti came second at the Open and at the Senior World Team Trials. He has stayed active this summer, taking bronze at the Warclaw Ziolkowski Memorial in Poland and pinning his opponent in a USA-Russia dual.

RAF 01 is set to start at 6 p.m. Saturday and will be on FOX Nation.