Henry Cejudo is out of his main event freestyle wrestling match with Merab Dvalishvili tonight at RAF08.
Cejudo and Dvalishvili were set to face each other once again after Dvalishvili dominated “Triple C” at UFC 323 back in December 2025. Cejudo has since retired and Dvalishvili is awaiting a rematch against Petr Yan in the UFC, setting up an opportunity for them to wrestle.
The match was interesting because Cejudo won an gold medal in freestyle at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Could those wrestling
chops overcome the cardio of “The Machine?”
Unfortunately we won’t find out because Cejudo suffered an injury in the last few hours and is no longer fit to compete tonight (Apr. 18, 2026). The announcement was made by Real American Freestyle on social media.
“Henry Cejudo is out due to injury, and his matchup with Merab Dvalishivili has been canceled,” the RAF X account reported. “Tsarukyan vs Faber is now the Main event. Snyder vs Aitmukhan is the new Co-Main Event.”
There’s currently no further information regarding the nature of Cejudo’s injury, and no word from RAF as to whether the match with Dvalishvili will be rescheduled.
As noted, Arman Tsarukyan vs. Urijah Faber is still on the card to draw in the MMA crowd. Kyle Snyder vs Rizabek Aitmukhan is the red meat for pure collegiate wrestling fans – Snyder is an Olympic gold and silver medalist, while Aitmukhan is a World Wrestling Championships gold medalist.
RAF08 starts at 8pm EST on FOX Nation.
