Shara Magomedov’s Real American Freestyle detour finally has a name attached, and it is not some soft landing. Real American Freestyle announced that Magomedov will face Neiman Gracie in a cruiserweight grappling match at RAF Moscow on Sept. 5, sliding the UFC middleweight into a lineup already topped by Khamzat Chimaev vs. Tyron Woodley.
RAF put out the booking with a short announcement that said, “Shara Magomedov will now face Neiman Gracie at RAF MOSCOW on SEP 5.” Here is the source announcement:
Shara Magomedov will now face Neiman Gracie at RAF MOSCOW on SEP 5 😤
Tickets in bio. pic.twitter.com/gkogBZj7ps
— Real American Freestyle (@RAFWrestlingUSA) August 24, 2026
RAF Moscow Keeps Loading The Mat With MMA Names
Magomedov is fresh off his June UFC Baku win over Michel Pereira, a strange and scrappy one where Shara survived a knockdown and still walked away with 29-28 cards. The Russian striker has played in this sandbox before too, taking Hype FC grappling matches with Arman Tsarukyan and Edson Barboza that both ended in draws. That is the funny part of this booking. Shara is known for spinning violence on the feet, but RAF keeps handing him grappling homework like a coach who will not let the fun kid skip math class.
Gracie brings a very different kind of problem. He is a former Bellator title challenger, a PFL veteran, and a real jiu-jitsu name who submitted Benson Henderson at ADXC 1 in 2023. He has not fought in MMA since his August 2024 loss to Magomed Umalatov, but a pure grappling stage is much closer to his wheelhouse than a cage kickboxing mess with Shara.
The Sept. 5 RAF Moscow card is already doing big-name business. Chimaev vs. Woodley is the headliner, Jordan Burroughs is booked against Magomed Kurbanaliev, and Bo Nickal also has an Olympic gold test with Shirvani Muradov. That makes Magomedov vs. Gracie less like a random side quest and more like another piece of RAF’s plan to turn MMA curiosity into a wrestling and grappling spectacle.
For Shara, the stakes are simple. He can bank another combat-sports payday, keep his name warm between UFC appearances, and maybe show there is more to the game than wild striking angles and one-eyed pressure. For Gracie, this is a chance to drag a UFC action fighter into deep water without having to eat spinning stuff first. On a card already built around elite wrestlers crossing into MMA names, that is exactly the kind of weird banger RAF wants on the flyer.
