Kyle Dake reaches World final, set to defend RAF title vs Alp Arslan Begenjov in Abu Dhabi

Kyle Dake will defend the Real American Freestyle (RAF) Cruiserweight Championship against Turkmenistan's Alp Arslan Begenjov at RAF Abu Dhabi on Saturday, November 14, at Etihad Arena on Yas Island. RAF officially promoted the title match on Friday, October 30, in a post on its X account, adding that the event streams on Fox Nation. The pairing had first surfaced earlier in October, when MMA News, citing The National, listed it among the matches for the promotion's first Middle East card.

The confirmation arrived on a big day for Dake, who hours later reached the 86 kg final at the 2026 Senior World Wrestling Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Dake's unbeaten RAF run

Dake, 35, is 6-0 in RAF and has held the cruiserweight belt since the promotion's first event. According to RAF records compiled by RAFwrestling.org, he won the title with an 11-0 technical fall over Dean Hamiti at RAF 01 in August 2025 and has since defended it five times:

• Boris Makoev, 7-1 at RAF 02 (October 2025)
• Mahamedkhabib Kadzimahamedau, 10-7 at RAF 05 (January 2026)
• Parker Keckeisen, 7-1 at RAF 07 (March 2026)
• Vladimeri Gamkrelidze, 2-0 at RAF Georgia (July 2026)
• Mahamedkhabib Kadzimahamedau, 7-6 at RAF Moscow (September 5, 2026)

The latest defense was the tightest. USA Wrestling reported that Dake scored a step-out in the final moments to edge Kadzimahamedau, the Belarusian Olympic silver medalist known as "Kadik," 7-6 in Moscow.

Outside RAF, Dake is a four-time Senior World champion, winning gold at 79 kg in 2018 and 2019 and at 74 kg in 2021 and 2022, and a two-time Olympic bronze medalist from Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, per FloWrestling.

Worlds run in Astana

Dake moved up to 86 kg for this year's World Championships, chasing a world title in a third weight class. On Friday morning he won four matches to reach the semifinals, according to USA Wrestling: 6-5 over Mongolia's Batbilguun Naadambat, a 13-2 technical fall over Lithuania's Paulius Lescauskas, an 11-0 technical fall over Kazakhstan's Bolat Sakayev and a 6-2 decision over Kyrgyzstan's Malik Shavaev. In Friday evening's semifinal he beat Russia's Ibragim Kadiev, the reigning European champion and a two-time U20 world champion, 6-3, USA Wrestling reported, scoring two takedowns late to book a place in the 86 kg world final.

Who is Alp Arslan Begenjov?

Begenjov is a rising freestyle wrestler from Ashgabat who competes at 86 kg internationally. In 2024 he won Turkmenistan's first-ever freestyle world title at the U20 World Championships in Pontevedra, Spain, taking 79 kg gold without conceding a point and beating Zackary Ryder of the United States 5-0 in the final, according to United World Wrestling.

After moving up to 86 kg in 2026, he took bronze at the Senior Asian Championships in Bishkek in April, the first freestyle medal for a Turkmen man at that event, and then won the U23 Asian title in Da Nang, Vietnam, in May without giving up a point, Turkmenistan's state news portal reported. RAF Abu Dhabi will be his first RAF match.

RAF Abu Dhabi card

The event, the first under a five-year partnership between RAF, the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi and the UAE Wrestling Federation, is headlined by Khamzat Chimaev vs Colby Covington for Covington's cruiserweight crossover title. Arman Tsarukyan vs Neiman Gracie is the catchweight co-main event. Other announced matches include Kyle Snyder vs Shamil Erdogan for the light heavyweight title, Kennedy Blades vs Bella Mir for the women's middleweight title, Umar Nurmagomedov vs Urijah Faber, Zabit Magomedsharipov vs Giga Chikadze and Julianna Pena vs Diana Avsaragova. The card remains subject to change.