It was originally announced that former Husker Ridge Lovett — the 2026 Senior US Open Champion — would be a part of the Real American Freestyle 09 card, but two current Huskers have since joined him to wrestle in Dallas, Texas on May 30.
Both Antrell Taylor and Christopher Minto have also been added to the RAF 09 card and will be taking on some really tough opponents — both Penn State legends.
Lovett will take on established veteran Bajrang Punia of India, while Minto will face Jason Nolf, and Taylor will take on Zain Retherford. Nolf was a dominant three-time NCAA champion for the Nittany Lions, while Retherford also won three titles and two Hodge trophies as the nation’s most dominant wrestler.
Lovett and Taylor are already NCAA champions as well, and the trio of Lovett, Taylor and Minto have combined for five NCAA final appearances — Taylor still has one year of eligibility remaining and Minto has two, so they have time to add to their college resumes.
Husker Nation — if you don’t have a FoxNation account, you may want one for May 30 when these three take the mat.
Now let’s break down the matchups.
Ridge Lovett vs. Bajrang Punia
Lightweight (155 pounds)
As I already broke down, Lovett won the US Open and punched his ticket to Final X and will face Punia at RAF 09.
Punia is a five-time World and Olympic medalist for India and will be a tough test for Lovett who is new to the Senior level of freestyle — he just won gold at the Pan-American Championships last week.
This past weekend, Retherford won the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament at 70 kg and earned his spot opposite Lovett at Final X in a best-of-three series. With Taylor now taking on Retherford at RAF 09 ahead of Final X, it’s possible that he could then help Lovett in his preparation for that upcoming series.
But first, Lovett has to concentrate on Punia who will absolutely give him a match. The outcome of this one will tell us a lot about Lovett’s World Championship hopes.
Originally it was stated by RAF that the winner of Lovett-Punia would face the winner from a matchup between Retherford and three-time World Medalist Elnazar Akhmataliev of Kyrgystan that was also supposed to be on the same card, but that match was scrapped and Taylor was added as the short-notice replacement.
Does that mean that if Lovett and Taylor win those matches they could wrestle for the RAF Lightweight title?
I certainly hope so.
Antrell Taylor vs. Zain Retherford
Lightweight (155 pounds)
Originally, Retherford was supposed to face Akhmataliev, but that match was apparently scrapped, and Taylor has jumped in as the replacement to face the two-time World finalist.
In addition to his incredibly dominant college career at 149 pounds, Retherford also won a World Championship at 70 kg in 2023 after taking silver the year before. Retherford just won the World Team Trials title after not wrestling since going 0-2 at the 2024 Olympics at 65 kg.
One interesting wrinkle in this matchup will be size — Retherford wrestled 149 in college and is now at 70 kg (154 pounds) after spending time at 65 kg (143). Taylor wrestled up at 165 pounds as a redshirt freshman before going down to 157 and has spent all his age-level time at 70 kg.
Retherford is on the shorter side, so I expect Taylor to hold a noticable size advantage in this matchup.
Taylor is really good in freestyle — he was a U20 Pan-American Champion in 2023 and made the U20 World Team Trials finals in 2023 — but he’s nowhere near as credentialed as Retherford. This match has nothing to lose and everything to gain written all over it.
Christopher Minto vs. Jason Nolf
Middleweight (175 pounds)
This is another matchup of a current Husker star against a Penn State legend as Minto will take on Nolf at 175 pounds.
Considered one of the best pound-for-pound wrestlers in American, Nolf is one of the best to never make a Senior World Team — having been stuck behind guys like Jordan Burroughs and Kyle Dake who have 17 World and Olympic medals between the two of them — 11 of them gold.
A two-time US Open champion and 2024 Olympic Trials runner-up, Nolf was a two-time Final X runner-up.
Minto is coming off his sophomore season where he made it to the NCAA final at 174 pounds. A two-time All-American, Minto is a rising star for Husker wrestling.
Not very experienced in freestyle, Minto has an extremely tough test here with Nolf. This match will tell us a lot about Minto’s potential in the international style.
Much like Taylor, Minto has not much to lose but everything to gain here.
