Downey vs. Buchanan: One Shot to Stay in the Hunt

Always eyeing gold, Pat Downey is now 1-2 under the RAF banner. The NCAA All-American is one of the most dangerous men in the division but has had mixed results. While his losses were respectable, it’s hardly the run The Lizard King expected for himself.

Downey made his RAF debut at RAF 2 where he would narrowly fall to four-time NCAA finalist, two-time NCAA National Champion and Olympic gold medalist Jake Varner 5-1. Downey would return at RAF 2 where he would earn a 12-0 tech fall victory over UFC welterweight Joaquin Buckley in just over a minute. Downey knew he wasn’t far from a title shot so he accepted a short-notice match with UFC legend and Olympic silver medalist, Yoel Romero. Romero surprised the world with a 10-0 tech fall victory and punch his ticket to a title match against Bo Nickal while Downey would go back to the drawing board.

Nobody is more confident betting on themself than Downey and he knows a win over a National Champion is both within reach and enough to get his name back in the mix for a shot at Bo Nickal’s light heavyweight title. It took virtually no time at all for Downey to agree to a match with three-time NCAA All-American and 2025 National Champion Stephen Buchanan.

Fresh off a National Title in his final NCAA season Stephen Buchanan has found himself a new home at RAF. After one of the most memorable seasons for an Iowa Hawkeye wrestler in recent years, Buchanan’s name has never floated around the Olympic circuit. With a ceiling much too high to hang ‘em up for good, it only made sense that we’d see him on the RAF mat.

What most might not have expected was such a brilliant match right out of the gate.

Buchanan ended his NCAA career as king of the hill but has always had better results in traditional matches. Opponents with Downey-like unpredictability have always given wrestlers problems and Buchanan is no different.

With Downey’s deceptive speed, known power and comfort in messy positions, a win at RAF05 could immediately put his name in the title mix.

PATHS TO VICTORY
Downey: Downey needs to have a short memory following his tech fall loss to Yoel Romero. Downey is well-aware of his skillset and resume but needs to avoid trying to force a big performance to put him back on the fast-track to a title match. Instead, Downey needs to focus on disrupting Buchanan in the opening seconds to immediately swing the energy of the match into his favor.

It would also behoove Downey to stay inside more against Buchanan. “PD3” has some of the strongest upper body advantages in the division and if he stays in close he can notch the biggest win of his RAF career and put himself across from Bo Nickal or Yoel Romero for the Light Heavyweight Title.

Buchanan: Stephen Buchanan has one of the best mixes of rock-solid fundamentals and ability to get gritty. If he strikes first and put Downey on his heels the way Romero did, he can use his grit to fight off any late “hail mary” efforts from Downey.

Buchanan has always had a high percentage of “committing to scoring.” He doesn’t require much setup, movement or scrambling to score. When he commits, he usually converts. This should be his gameplan for Downey if he’s looking to send a shockwave through the division.

This ability also lends itself to Buchanan capitalizing on Downey’s chaos. Sometimes in the heat of battle, Downey can give up positioning when unpredictability turns into opportunity. This is the exact playbook fans can expect Buchanan to bring into RAF05.

The long and short of it is that Buchanan could potentially punch his ticket to a title match with a big performance of Downey. Downey could also do the same or find himself a win away still. In any event both men require a big performance if their short-term plans include the RAF strap. Whichever man prioritizes strategy over desperation will likely come out with his hand raised.

Will Pat Downey get back in the win column or will Stephen Buchanan immediately strike fear into the entire light heavyweight division? Find out Saturday, January 10 ONLY on Fox Nation!