Kyle Dake is one of the most accomplished American wrestlers in history but even at 34 with multiple Olympic medals, World Championships and NCAA titles on his resume, he’s still looking to challenge himself.
On Saturday at RAF 5 in Florida, Dake actually has a chance to right a past wrong when he faces Mahamedkhabib Kadimagomedov, who defeated him in a stunning 11-0 upset at the 2020 Olympics. Favored to win the gold medal, Dake suffered a tech fall loss but rebounded to claim bronze, although he never
forgot about that match with Kadimagomedov and thanks to Real American Freestyle, he’s getting another shot at him.
“So I wrestled ‘Kadik’ in 2021,” Dake said about the original match that happened at the Olympics. “I wrestled, I didn’t really train for the week leading up to it. I was just cutting weight. Because I couldn’t. I was on a bike all week just trying to get down in weight because I was injured. That’s no excuse. You go out and compete with what you have. Nobody cares how you’re feeling. I went out and I competed and I lost but I came back and got the next best thing the next day and got a bronze medal and I’m very proud of that. But a few weeks later, I won the World Championships and he wasn’t there. The next year he was there, I won and he didn’t place. The next year, I was there I made the finals and he didn’t place. The Olympics in Paris, I took bronze, he didn’t place. So we just didn’t run into each other. I’ve been looking for that match for a long time.
“At the Olympics in Paris on the second day we were actually sitting in the sauna together and I asked him what his plans were and what he planned on doing and he said he wanted to keep wrestling and continue. I knew I was probably not going to go 74 kilos again just because it was a hard weight cut for me. As I get older, just not as quick to recover and a two-hour weigh-in is pretty tricky. I told him that I was probably going to go up to 86 [kilos] and he said ‘I’m probably going to go up to 86, too.’ We didn’t hit in any other tournaments but now we have this opportunity to actually compete. We are guaranteed this match. We know this match is going to happen and I’m really excited for it.”
After he took silver at the Olympics, Kadimagomedov actually signed with Bellator MMA with the intention to fight but nearly three years later, he’s never actually set foot in the cage. Instead, he’s gone back to wrestling where he recently scored a win in RAF, which set up the rematch with Dake on Saturday.
Of course, Dake understands that losses are part of the sport so he’s not holding onto any undue animosity from his previous encounter with Kadimagomedov but he’s still looking to show that he’s a much better wrestler than when he fell in such shocking fashion.
“I don’t know that it’s a revenge match for me,” Dake explained. “I just love to compete and it’s a chance to compete against another cool opponent. But it’s still meaningful. Every time I step out on the mat, it’s meaningful. Because I want to put my best foot forward. I want to be the guy who can always go out and compete their best and no matter the circumstance.
“I’ve been thinking about the match for a while. It would be really cool now we have the ability to make these matchups to get some of these guys. He was definitely at the top of the list of somebody I wanted to compete against. Obviously, I’m really thankful to have the ability to compete and just have all the blessings that I do. It’s really exciting.”
Dake praised RAF for giving wrestlers the ability to compete in these kinds of matches because circumstances and timing just never allowed for him to cross paths with Kadimagomedov again until now.
While he’s usually waiting months between tournaments on the international wrestling circuit, Dake appreciates that RAF is keeping him busier and presenting him with these kinds of unique opportunities.
“Normally you take eight weeks between matches and now we have like three or four weeks,” Dake said. “When we were high school, we were wrestling every weekend. When we were in college we were wrestling every weekend or every two weekends. Now Real American Freestyle allows you to do that so I’m really thankful that I have those opportunities. Because of those opportunities, I feel like I’m even sharper than I have been.”
If he gets through Kadimagomedov at RAF 5, Dake knows there’s no shortage of potential opponents he could face next including fellow American wrestler Zahid Valencia, who beat him in back-to-back matches to punch his ticket to the 2025 World Championships.
There’s also the intrigue about possibly facing a UFC fighter interested in wrestling just like the RAF 5 main event with Colby Covington facing Luke Rockhold or former champion Belal Muhammad taking his shot on the mats at RAF 4.
Several years ago, Dake actually proposed a grappling match with then UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov but nothing ever came to fruition.
Dake loves the idea of running that back now or welcoming any other top notch UFC fighter who might want to see how they’d do against a wrestler of his caliber. So far, the vast majority of UFC veterans competing in RAF haven’t found much success but Dake is keeping the door open that somebody might step up to the challenge.
“That’s a lot of fun,” Dake said. “You get these guys who transition from wrestling or grappling early in their career to go into MMA. There’s always these ‘what ifs?’ Oh if so and so would have stuck with this, how great would they be? If they just continued down this path, they’d be an Olympic champion. Well let’s see. Let’s see where they’re at. If they can compete, let’s go.
“I would love to compete against any of those guys. I’m willing to compete against anybody. So if there’s any UFC guy that wants to throw their hat in the ring, let’s do it. I’m all for it.”
The inclusion of UFC veterans in RAF also helps build anticipation for the entire sport of wrestling and Dake knows how much that helps other athletes attempting to get attention away from the Olympics, World Championships or other international tournaments that just don’t attract as much attention.
“It brings more notoriety to the sport,” Dake said. “People are like oh, Colby Covington’s wrestling. Arman Tsarukyan’s wrestling. Luke Rockhold is wrestling. Yoel Romero is wrestling. I know them from fighting. I didn’t know them from their past [in wrestling].
“Unless you’re a super fan but if you’re just a casual fan, you’re like I know these names and I want to watch them compete but I also get to watch a person like Kennedy Blades, I get to watch Kyle Dake, I get to watch Wyatt Hendrickson. I get to watch all these people and see who they are.”
