Neiman Gracie faces Tsarukyan at RAF Abu Dhabi
The Gracie family black belt and the No. 1 UFC lightweight contender meet in a wrestling match on November 14 at Etihad Arena
Neiman Gracie has a new challenge outside jiu-jitsu. The Brazilian black belt will face Arman Tsarukyan, the No. 1-ranked UFC lightweight contender, in a wrestling match at RAF Abu Dhabi, set for November 14 at Etihad Arena. The matchup was announced this Thursday, October 8, by Real American Freestyle, the professional freestyle wrestling league launched in 2025.
The match will be at a catchweight, under freestyle wrestling rules, in the format the league calls a crossover, which puts MMA fighters against each other in wrestling.
Different backgrounds
The two come to the mat from different places. Tsarukyan, an Armenian who is 11-2 in the UFC, is already a familiar name in RAF: he has seven wins in eight matches in the league, five of them by technical fall, and his only loss was to Colby Covington, 5-3, in July. His wins include Urijah Faber and Tony Ferguson.
Gracie, 37, built his career in jiu-jitsu. A nephew of Renzo Gracie and a great-grandson of Carlos Gracie, he is the son of coral belt Márcio Stambowsky and a three-time bronze medalist at jiu-jitsu World Championships. In MMA, he is 13-6, with nine wins by submission, and fought for Bellator, where he challenged Rory MacDonald for the welterweight title in 2019, and for the PFL. He now teaches in Newport Beach, California.
The Brazilian has already competed in the league this year. In September, at RAF Moscow, he faced the UFC’s Sharabutdin “Shara” Magomedov and lost 11-3.
Both have tested themselves in grappling
Outside MMA, both men also have grappling matches on their records. Gracie submitted Benson Henderson at ADXC in 2023, and Tsarukyan submitted Patricky Pitbull at ADXC 10 in Moscow in 2025.
The card in Abu Dhabi
RAF Abu Dhabi is the league’s first event in the Middle East and starts a five-year partnership with the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi and the UAE Wrestling Federation. The main event is Khamzat Chimaev against Colby Covington. The card also has Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs, Kyle Dake defending his title, Zabit Magomedsharipov against Giga Chikadze and Umar Nurmagomedov against Urijah Faber. The league streams its events on FOX Nation.
Can Neiman Gracie surprise Tsarukyan in wrestling? Leave your pick in the comments.
