Kyle Snyder has his eyes on a crossover wrestling clash with UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev under the RAF banner.
Snyder, who has a title defense booked at RAF 8 and is preparing for another run at the World Championships, revealed he’s particularly intrigued by a potential match with Chimaev. “I’ve seen clips of him wrestling and I think he’s pretty good,” Snyder said.
“He’s similar to Arman [Tsarukyan] where you watch him wrestle and you’re like wow, pretty good. They know what they’re doing. So I think that’s an interesting matchup. Just because obviously he’s a beast in the octagon and I’ve seen him wrestling,” Snyder added, noting he has watched Chimaev go with Abdulrashid Sadulaev and others in the gym.
“To me, that would be one of the only matches I’d be interested in,” Snyder said, praising Chimaev’s mentality. “The thing I like about Khamzat is he’s fearless,” he continued. “At least he competes without fear and he competes like he’s the alpha. I think he would take that same attitude into a wrestling match.”
Snyder is balancing RAF opportunities with a packed amateur wrestling schedule that includes Final X on June 19 to make the World team, followed by World Championships in September or October. “It’s kind of an interesting balance because you have the RAF matches but then you also have making the World team and wrestling at the World Championships,” he said, adding that timing will dictate when any high-profile RAF superfights can happen.
