ST. LOUIS – Austin DeSanto successfully defended his bantamweight title against Cuba’s Reineri Ortega on Saturday at Real American Freestyle 10, grinding out a 2-1 decision in the championship bout. Aaron Pico, Keegan O’Toole and Andrew Alirez also earned wins on the RAF 10 card.
DeSanto was tactical throughout, earning one point in each of the opening two rounds before conceding a point in the third. Trailing 2-0, Ortega pushed the pace in the final frame and scored in the closing seconds, but DeSanto withstood the late surge and retained his belt, 2-1.
Pico made his highly anticipated wrestling return and delivered a dominant 12-1 technical fall over Lance Palmer in the lightweight matchup. Before turning to an MMA career in 2017, Pico was considered one of USA Wrestling’s brightest young stars, known for his explosive style and ability to score points in bunches. He showed he has not slowed since his last wrestling appearance—a second-place finish at the 2016 Olympic Trials—scoring six points in each of the first two rounds to cruise to victory over Palmer in his RAF wrestling debut.
O’Toole mounted a furious comeback to win his middleweight bout against Uzbekistan’s Olympic silver medalist, Bekzod Abdurakhmonov. Down 6-0 after the opening round, O’Toole stayed composed and began chipping away at the deficit, blanking Abdurakhmonov 2-0 in the second to cut the lead to 6-2. He then erupted for eight unanswered points in the final round to close out a 10-6 win over the two-time Olympian and two-time World bronze medalist.
In a strategic battle between former NCAA standouts, Alirez, a 2023 NCAA champion, earned a 5-3 win over Jaydin Eierman, a 2021 NCAA runner-up. Alirez jumped ahead 3-2 in the opening round, then shut out Eierman 2-0 in the second. Eierman added a point in the third, but Alirez’s two takedowns ultimately secured the featherweight bout.
Other winners on the night included Khamzat Chimaev, Arman Tsarukyan, Lucia Yepez, Rizabek Aitmukhan, Sebastian Rivera, Shamil Sharipov and Arsen Harutyunyan.
RAF 11 is set for July 18 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with tickets available on Ticketmaster. Ben Askren will face Belal Muhammad in the co-main event, while Colby Covington is slated to meet Arman Tsarukyan in the main event. Additional event details will be announced in the coming weeks.
More information on Real American Freestyle is available at RealAmericanFreestyle.com.
