Colby Covington and Dillon Danis Set for High-Stakes Cruiserweight Bout at RAF07 in Tampa

Real American Freestyle (RAF) has announced an exciting co-main event for its seventh flagship card, RAF07. A highly anticipated cruiserweight clash featuring Colby Covington and Dillon Danis is scheduled for March 28 at the Yuengling Center in Tampa, Florida. This event will be broadcast live on Fox Nation, further solidifying RAF's commitment to showcasing professional freestyle wrestling on a prominent media platform.

RAF07: Covington vs. Danis Officially Confirmed

The RAF07 event will take place on March 28 at 8 p.m. local time at the Yuengling Center, located on the University of South Florida campus. Tickets are presently available for purchase. Real American Freestyle positions itself as an authentic professional freestyle wrestling league, uniting top-tier wrestlers with notable MMA crossover athletes on a dedicated mat. RAF07 continues the momentum from recent shows held in South Florida, contributing to the league's expanding event schedule.

Covington arrives in Tampa fresh off an impressive debut at RAF05 on January 10, 2026, where he headlined against Luke Rockhold in Sunrise, Florida. The former UFC interim welterweight champion showcased relentless pressure, superior control, and skilled chain wrestling to decisively defeat Rockhold, achieving a 12-0 technical fall in the second round of their cruiserweight contest. This performance instantly cemented his status as one of RAF's most impactful crossover talents, bringing his RAF record to 1-0 and fueling the narrative leading into RAF07.

Dillon Danis, a highly controversial figure in combat sports, enters the cruiserweight division with a distinguished grappling pedigree. The New York native initially gained prominence in elite no-gi jiu-jitsu before transitioning to mixed martial arts. During his tenure with Bellator, he competed in the welterweight category, securing two first-round submission victories in 2018 and 2019.

More recently, Danis made a move to Misfits MMA, where he clinched the Misfits MMA light heavyweight (175 lbs) title. He achieved this with a rapid 15-second submission victory over Warren Spencer under adapted MMA rules and maintains his position as the division's reigning champion as of late 2025.

This bout presents a classic stylistic conflict: a pure wrestler against a jiu-jitsu specialist, perfectly suited for the freestyle wrestling ruleset. Covington's relentless pace, superior mat control, and dominant top pressure, which were instrumental in his victory over Rockhold, will be put to the test against Danis's affinity for dynamic scrambles, intricate upper-body ties, and transitional movements designed to expose his opponent, techniques familiar to grapplers adapting to wrestling.

With a fight card already boasting prominent freestyle wrestling talent and championship contests in various weight classes, RAF is evidently banking on this co-main event to attract a diverse audience of both wrestling enthusiasts and MMA fans to Fox Nation. It promises a unique encounter between two high-profile athletes from distinct disciplines of combat sports.