Real American Freestyle may have found its next major headline act. At the RAF 09 post-event press conference in Texas, one of the night’s biggest talking points had nothing to do with what happened on the mat. UFC icon Jon Jones grabbed a live microphone and told the crowd he would love to compete in RAF.
Jones had already been heavily involved throughout the event, serving as part of Gable Steveson’s corner for his RAF matchup. After Steveson picked up the win, Jones was invited onto the stage, where he spoke directly to the crowd.
“It is so great to be back in the wrestling community. I love you guys and I miss you guys,” Jones said during the event.
Former UFC star Chael Sonnen then asked him directly whether he would seriously consider competing in wrestling again, prompting an enthusiastic response from the UFC legend.
“I would absolutely wrestle with you guys,” Jones replied.
RAF co-founder Israel “Izzy” Martinez addressed the incident directly when asked by a reporter during the press conference. Having known Jones long before the UFC spotlight, Izzy reflected on their history together.
“I was in his corner for big matches and I got to watch him train. I got to watch him think. I got to be his great friend,” Izzy said.
His reaction to Jones expressing interest came across as validation rather than surprise. Izzy had long maintained that anyone who experiences RAF firsthand tends to want to be a part of it.
“Once you come to RAF, once you see it, once you feel it, you want to do it,” he said.
According to Izzy, he knew Jones well enough to know the right approach was simply to wait.
“I always told Chad [Bronstein], he would ask me, he’s like ‘What do you think about Jon?’ and I was like, ‘I’ll just wait till he comes to one event,” Izzy said. “He’s a wrestler. He’s a diehard wrestler. He loves wrestling.”
The excitement in Izzy’s words came through as he looked ahead to what that could mean for the promotion.
“Jon’s gonna strap it up for us, hopefully,” he added.
The backdrop to all of this was a strong RAF 09 card that both Izzy and Chad described as one of the smoothest shows they had put together. Olympic champions Gable Steveson and Kyle Snyder both competed, as did Colby Covington, who picked up a win over Chris Weidman.
