Three-time NCAA champion and Penn State wrestling legend Jason Nolf retained his RAF Middleweight Championship at RAF 13 on Friday night in Miami with a close 7-6 win over Julian Ramirez.

Ramirez, a former Ivy League and EIWA champion, was making his RAF debut. The two had previously competed in freestyle at the 2023 U.S. Open, where Nolf won via technical superiority.

Also originally scheduled to compete tonight was former national champion Greg Kerkvliet against 2025 Hodge Trophy winner Wyatt Hendrickson, but an unspecified injury to one of the wrestlers saw the match pulled a week prior to the event.

How It Happened

Nolf went right to work off the opening whistle, securing a low single-leg takedown within the first few seconds and immediately pulling off a gut-wrench to earn four points within 20 seconds.

As the commentators remarked that Nolf looked to be pursuing a quick tech fall with another gut-wrench attempt, Ramirez flipped the script by reversing the champion and nearly sticking him on his back in the process, landing two points and cutting the deficit to 4-2. The score would remain unchanged through the end of the first period.

Just as he did in the first period, Nolf struck early in the second, hitting a nasty ankle pick 15 seconds in to restore his four-point cushion. His lead swelled to 7-2 after Ramirez was put on the shot clock and hit with an inactivity point as the second period drew to a close.

Just as the champion appeared to be coasting, Ramirez got to the leg of Nolf, who nearly scrambled out of it on the boundary, only for the challenger to throw him on his back out-of-bounds for a crucial four-point move with 1:15 to go to make it 7-6.

Despite not scoring in the third period, the official never put Nolf on a shot clock, which would’ve put him in danger of losing by criteria. He fought off the desperate attacks of Ramirez for the remainder of the match to retain his championship belt.

What’s Next

We’re still nearly two months away from the Penn State wrestling season, but there’s still plenty of wrestling in the meantime.

The next time we will see some Nittany Lions in action will be at the U23 World Championships in Las Vegas from October 12-18, where Luke Lilledahl and Jayden James will compete for a gold medal in their respective weight classes. After that, six wrestlers with Penn State connections hit the mat in November at the Senior World Championships in Kazakhstan.

The next RAF event will also be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, at 8 p.m. on Friday, October 23. The only confirmed bout that involves a wrestler with blue and white ties is Kerkvliet, who will compete against former Iowa State All-American Yonger Bastida.