Lucia Yepez vs Sarah Hildebrandt - Champion vs Champion

Lucia Yepez has yet to find somebody who can slow her down let alone stop her, at RAF and Sarah Hildebrandt is almost out of hardware to get her hands on. The two unstoppable forces collide at RAF 14 with the strawweight championship on the line. Who will bend, who will break?

Lucia Yepez has built the RAF strawweight division, ironically enough, by being unstoppable and laying waste to all who come across her path. Sarah Hildebrandt has built women’s wrestling as a whole into the juggernaut it is today. One has helped build the company and the other is the reason most women wrestle.

Yepez came into RAF as the young Olympic silver medalist out of Ecuador who was the perfect dance partner for the budding star, Everest Leydecker. She would go on to win 10-3 and never look back. Now the strawweight title holder, Yepez has changed her image from “solid international competitor” to “bona fide star.”

The wind is at her back and she has never looked more dangerous or poised to make a statement with a win over somebody with the resume of Sarah Hildebrandt.

Hildebrandt is back after over a year off from RAF and gunning for the title she captured at RAF01 before stepping away. The division’s first star is returning to take on its architect and she’s got plenty of reasons for Yepez to be on notice.

Hildebrandt has Olympic gold and bronze, two silver medals at Worlds and almost every Pan Am gold medal that has ever been wrestled for. She might’ve temporarily take a sabbatical but has more than enough artillery to come and go as she pleases for a long time.

While Hildebrandt may be the more accomplished athlete who started the division, don’t expect Yepez to overrespect the Olympian. It’s pride vs history in the Ecuadorian’s eyes and Hildebrandt vs herself in the American’s.

For Yepez, the key to victory will be starting fast. Every match she seems to waste less and less time setting the tone and it has paid off immediately every single time. She will need to go this route to avoid letting one of the greatest of all time get into her groove. The version of Yepez that scored a takedown ten seconds into the match against Felicity Taylor needs to be the one who shows up against Heldebrandt.

She will also need to continue pressuring after the first takedown.

Yepez doesn’t often treat a takedown like the end of an exchange and she will need to prepare herself to make that strategy a priority.

Opportunities to cleanly take Hildebrandt down don’t come often so should she make it happen, she needs to find more crooked numbers to put on the board.For Hildebrandt, her first strategy needs to be an exact opposite of Yepez’ gameplan. First thing’s first, don’t let Yepez dictate the opening. Even with her accomplishments being what they are, Hildebrandt can find herself in a bad spot if Yepez is on top of her early. Denying the first couple clean exchanges should be a large early focus.

She will also need to make Yepez attack from distance. Yepez’ attacks are high volume and with ferocity. Keeping distance forces her to either adjust approach to something less-effective or choose poorer and poorer times to overextend for offense.

The matchup has all the makings of a storybook clash. The first champion takes on the young gun who has been laying a new foundation and the title is on the line.

Will it be the dawning of a new era or business as usual? Find out at RAF14!

Catch Lucia Yepez vs Sarah Hildebrandt LIVE Friday, October 23 ONLY on FOX Nation!