RAF 06 athletes paving the way for underrepresented communities in wrestling.

Reporter: Caleb Harris

(Photo: Joel Arroyo/GrapplingReels)

TEMPE – The ordinary high school senior has never stood in the middle of a roaring stadium with 5,000 fans chanting her name, but Everest Leydecker has never been ordinary. Even before she toed the line opposite Olympic silver medalist in Lucía Yépez Guzmán, Leydecker had made history.

On Saturday, she became the youngest wrestler ever to compete in Real American Freestyle at 18. Her appearance on the card was more than just an incredible personal achievement, it was a signifier of what women and other athletes from historically underrepresented backgrounds can achieve in wrestling when given a platform. 

Real American Freestyle, or RAF, is a professional freestyle wrestling league with a clear goal: establish freestyle wrestling as a mainstream sport by putting together elite matchups with an international pool of competitors. 

When Leydecker accepted the match in her home city of Tempe, Ariz., she was half of one of the highest level wrestling matches that have ever taken place in Arizona, but Leydecker wanted to make a difference beyond the mat. She wanted to inspire people like her.

“I think Arizona is producing so many good girls,” Leydecker said. “I am so excited that this event is here. I think so many girls are going to go watch, and just help them all wrestle.”

Yépez Guzmán bested Leydecker on the mat, but off the mat, the two stand together as trailblazers for their communities. In 2024, Yépez Guzmán became the first Ecuadorian to medal in wrestling at the Olympics.

The two female wrestlers represent a marginalized group in wrestling. Unfortunately, the world’s oldest sport has a lot of underrepresented groups in the United States. 

Wrestling is predominantly practiced by white males. 70.4% of USA Wrestling members are non-Hispanic white, while only 19% of high school wrestlers are girls. For many women and people of color, the sport can feel inaccessible with few high-level athletes to look up to. RAF 06 was a big step in changing that.

Along with Yépez Guzmán and Leydecker’s match, more than half of the athletes on the card were people of color, with six total international athletes and Mexican-American Henry Cejudo headlining.

(Photo: Real American Freestyle) David Carr walks out with his RAF Welterweight championship belt before his match with Bubba Jenkins

As a youth wrestler, David Carr garnered national attention as the son of three-time NCAA champion Nate Carr. At just 26 years old, David Carr has followed in his dad’s footsteps as an NCAA champion and U.S. world representative while growing to become one of the faces of Black American wrestling.

When Carr won his first NCAA championship in 2021 he joined the first group of five African-Americans to win an NCAA wrestling championship in the same year. Five years later, at RAF 06, he faced a Black wrestling icon in Bubba Jenkins. 

Jenkins said the match was “for the culture”. Carr acknowledged the label from his childhood hero, and embraced the responsibilities it carries.

“You are trying to inspire people,” Carr said. “I remember him throwing up the ankle bands and shooting them down, and I did that for like a week straight. I just think it’s the swag, it’s the charisma, it’s the style. We are trying to be fun, athletic, we’re trying to be ourselves and be authentic.”

Carr was referencing Jenkins’ 2011 NCAA championship finals victory when he pinned U.S. wrestling legend David Taylor before unveiling his “gun ‘em down” celebration.

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Jenkins is conscious of the impact he had on kids like Carr, and wants to be a beacon for kids dreaming of making exceptional moments of their own.

“This is the biggest stage for wrestling in America,” Jenkins said. “For us to be on it, competing for a world title, it says something to a lot of the kids in the inner cities that don’t have that voice. They get to see us get up here, say our thing and do our thing, and have y'all learn our dance.”

While Carr’s 13-2 technical fall over Jenkins was a positive sign for the growth of the sport, there were still moments at RAF 06 that were staunch reminders that the sport of wrestling has a long way to go to achieve an accessible and safe space for athletes from different backgrounds.

Shortly after 2025 World champion Zahid Valencia defeated Mahmoud Sebie, UFC fighter and RAF 05 headliner, Colby Covington walked onto the mat with a microphone, ready to promote his next match.

Covington has faced criticism in the past for his racist remarks, but continues to rely on controversial trash talk to market his fights. On Saturday, he thanked the effervescent crowd before letting them know he had an alternative plan had they not cheered.

“Otherwise I’d have to call up my friend Donald Trump and get some ICE agents in here and deport some people,” Covington said.

Covington’s comments came moments after Valencia’s match. Valencia is of Hispanic heritage and his older brother Anthony Valencia has competed for the Mexican National Team. 

The moment highlighted RAF’s attempt to balance high-level competition with the attention-grabbing promotions that chief media officer Eric Bischoff became famous for during his time with World Championship Wrestling and WWE Raw brand.

While the promotion leans into its showmanship roots, the card reflected a different inequity. Despite the U.S. consistently boasting one of the top women’s wrestling teams in the country, its top professional wrestling league includes a large disparity between the amount of men’s and women’s matches.

(Photo: Joel Arroyo/GrapplingReels) Everest Leydecker [left] hoists a single leg against Lucía Yépez Guzmán

Yépez Guzmán vs Leydecker was the only women’s match in a 12-bout card. Chief operating officer Israel Martinez praised Yépez Guzmán and Leydecker’s performances and attributed the disparity to scheduling conflicts.

“Just so everyone’s clear, there is a big ranking tournament right now in Albania with a lot of the top wrestlers in the world and all the top college women wrestlers right now are getting ready for their NCAA championship next weekend,” Martinez said.

A closer look at Martinez’s explanation reveals some inconsistencies. He was talking about the Muhamet Malo Ranking Tournament, which did overlap with RAF 06. The counterpoint is that men competed in the tournament from Wednesday through Sunday, while women competed from Thursday to Saturday. Both would have scheduling conflicts. 36 U.S. men’s wrestlers competed in Albania and just 13 women.

Furthermore, both men’s and women’s NCAA wrestling follows similar timelines. Both groups will be wrestling in postseason tournaments the weekend after RAF 06, an event that contained zero current NCAA athletes.

The lack of parity stretches across six months of events. Dating back to RAF’s inaugural competition, there have been 45 men’s matches with just six women’s matches. 

RAF has made incorporating mixed martial artists into wrestling an integral part of its brand, yet 36 male MMA fighters have made 36 match appearances compared to just a single women’s MMA fighter, Isabella Mir.

While the National Wrestling Coaches Association reported that women’s wrestling has grown from 804 high school athletes to more than 74,000 in the last 32 years, it is clear that there is still a larger emphasis on men’s wrestling.

Still, athletes like Yépez Guzmán and Leydecker shining on the sport’s biggest stage is a step towards the growth of women’s wrestling.

“There’s not many people who grow women’s wrestling a ton, but the more publicity it gets, the better it is,” Leydecker said.

Leydecker is committed to wrestle for Hawkeye Wrestling Club, where fellow RAF 06 athlete Stephen Buchanan also trains. He has seen the growth of women’s wrestling at the University of Iowa while also balancing his personal experiences as a Black wrestler. 

Buchanan said he believes the spotlight is an opportunity to build up the wrestling community.

“I would say we all have the opportunity to be role models to the younger individuals in the Black society,” Buchanan said. “That’s all I really want to be, not just to them but to everyone. To step out on the mat and be a great wrestler but also step off the mat and be a great man.”