Belal Muhammad, the former UFC Welterweight Champion and one of the division’s top wrestlers, came into RAF 4 following a challenging stretch in 2025 that included losses inside the Octagon. However, Muhammad’s luck changed drastically this year as he lost the welterweight gold and remained winless. Riding on a two-fight losing streak, Belal also dropped his third straight bout at the RAF event.

At RAF 4, Muhammad faced two-time NCAA champion and world team member David Carr, who dominated him en route to a 10-0 technical fall victory on the mat. The former champion was dominated as the accomplished wrestler, Carr, cruised to a lopsided 10-0 technical fall victory. While Muhammad clearly lost fair and square, an eye poke still played a role in the defeat. 

Belal Muhammad suffers another eye poke at the RAF wrestling event 

“Belal Muhammad seriously just got eye poked at RAF 4,” MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin wrote on X.

The former welterweight champion’s run of eye pokes in big fights dates back to 2021. At UFC Fight Night 187 headliner, ex-170-pound champ Leon Edwards’ extended his fingers and caught him in the eye, causing temporary blindness. From that moment, the foul became the bane of Belal Muhammad’s career.

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Even in his last fight against Ian Garry, ‘Remember The Name’ took two eye pokes from the Irishman, yet the bout continued without Garry facing any punishment. As a result, Muhammad dropped the UFC Qatar co-main event, essentially losing his path to another title shot.

Once again, the 37-year-old likely saw his performance compromised due to another unlucky eye poke. Still, while one UFC veteran struggled, another shone bright at the RAF event.

Following the former 170 lbs kingpin’s loss to the D1 wrestling champion, Yoel Romero took center stage and proved once again why he remains a phenom at 48 years old. 

Yoel Romero dominates Pat Downey at the RAF co-main event    

Other than Belal Muhammad, UFC fans were also eager to witness Yoel Romero’s wrestling prowess in the RAF 4 co-main event. The Cuban was nothing short of a star during his run in Dana White’s promotion, largely because of his grueling wars inside the Octagon. However, before Romero became an elite cage fighter, he also competed at the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Olympics.

So when ‘Soldier of God’ co-headlined the RAF event, fans were excited to see whether he could recreate that magic again as he nears 50 years of age. Turns out, age is not much of a factor for Romero. He completely obliterated his opponent, former Bellator fighter and accomplished wrestler Pat Downey, in the freestyle wrestling bout.

The 48-year-old former UFC title challenger scored a perfect 10-0 technical fall over an opponent 15 years younger, showing everyone that he is far from past his prime, at least in wrestling. But Romero was not done after securing the victory. On the mic, he called out UFC middleweight contender Bo Nickal, whom he was originally scheduled to face.

“See you soon, boy,” Romero said with his trademark bravado.

Now that the Cuban juggernaut has once again called out Bo Nickal, could we finally see this matchup materialize? Let us know in the comments section below.