Luke Rockhold meets Joe Pyfer in catchweight wrestling match at RAF 13 in Miami

Real American Freestyle, the promotion behind RAF events, announced a cross-style matchup that blends MMA pedigree with collegiate-style wrestling rulesets. Luke Rockhold will face Joe Pyfer in a catchweight wrestling match at RAF 13 on Sept. 19 at the Watsco Center in Miami, according to the announcement reported by Yahoo Sports.

Rockhold, best known for his run in the UFC where he held the middleweight title, is stepping into a wrestling-specific challenge rather than an MMA fight. The event frames the contest as a catchweight wrestling match, meaning the bout will be contested at a negotiated weight limit, rather than a traditional wrestling weight class.

Pyfer arrives as an active UFC competitor at 185 pounds, bringing a current MMA athlete’s skill set into a bout that emphasizes grappling control and wrestling-style sequences. The matchup sets up a contrast in style: Rockhold’s long track record of fight preparation and combat sport coaching, matched against Pyfer’s more recent UFC competition experience.

RAF 13 is positioned as a headliner event for fans who follow MMA fighters but also want to see them test their grappling under wrestling conditions. By placing a former UFC champion against an ongoing UFC middleweight, the promotion is leaning into mainstream name recognition while still selling the premise that the rules and scoring will be wrestling-centric.

The announcement, as reported, does not outline additional operational details such as the exact catchweight number, the bout format (for example, rounds or timing), or the specific tournament or championship implications, if any, tied to RAF 13. That matters because wrestling-style matches can differ significantly in how they value takedowns, control time, and reversals depending on the ruleset.

Still, the pairing is likely to be a meaningful marker for both fighters’ reputations beyond their UFC trajectories. For Rockhold, a strong showing would reinforce that his combat skill transfers cleanly to wrestling contexts. For Pyfer, competing against a proven elite-level grappler and striker at catchweight could help define how he handles opponents with high-level positional control and conditioning expectations.