Vito Arujau vs Soslan Ramonov - Time Machine Matchup

Two of the division’s most dangerous men have mirroring weights and accolades to their names. The only thing separating them is age. Will the wisdom gained of 35-year-old Soslan Ramonov be the difference or will Vito Arujau’s raw youth tip the scales? 

One has NCAA gold, one has Olympic gold, they have identical World success and pound-for-pound, event-for-event similar success in freestyle wrestling. Vito Arujau and Soslan Ramonov seem to be separated by nothing except age.

27-year-old Arujau introduced himself to the world as one of the United States' top young freestyle wrestlers after an top-notch folkstyle career at Cornell. He became a two-time NCAA Division I champion and four-time All-American. One of college wrestling’s most likable personalities finished his NCAA career with a 93–9 record and was named the 2023 NCAA Championships' Outstanding Wrestler.

His diverse arsenal headlined by an unstoppable single-leg led him to the freestyle circuit where he would win Worlds in his first appearance. From Nick Suriano to Roman Bravo-Young to Abasgadzhi Magomedov, Arujau has proven, since graduating, he’s far from a folkstyle merchant.

Ramonov emerged as one of Russia’s strongest names of the 2010’s. His coming out party was the senior international stage where he would win the 2014 Worlds and follow it with bronze the following year. He definitely hadn’t seen a career regression, however. In 2016 he would absolutely dominate his way to Olympic gold including an 11-0 victory in the gold medal matchup.

He’s still at the height of his power and almost nobody in the world has better counter-wrestling than Ramonov when he’s on.

The styles are slightly different but the parallels between the two are almost identical and now we get to see them battle it out.

In order to take out the Olympic Gold Medalist, Arujau will have to push his own pace. Don’t spend long periods of time waiting for Ramonov to initiate. The Cornell graduate has an elite ability to chain attacks together. When he’s the one setting the pace, almost nobody on earth can compete.

He will also need to implement controlled aggression. Arujau is great at attacking first and making the match seem reckless without overextending. Don’t let him breathe, don’t give him space, be looking for your second attack before shooting the first takedown at break-neck pace will be Arujau’s winning formula.

Ramonov can counter this by forcing Arujau to make too chaotic of scrambles in efforts to pressure his opponents to death. If the Russian can play possum and make Arujau think there are openings where there aren’t, he can defeat him with both his physical and mental weapons.

Winning the first exchange will be huge for Ramonov as well. He has had an extended layoff but his prime performances are still fresh on the minds of competitors. He can throw Arujau’s gameplan and confidence out the window with exposure points straight out of the gate.

Nobody knows exactly what to expect when either men take the mate and it’s even tougher to predict when the physical primes and accomplishments are so similar. RAF MOSCOW is set to answer the questions we may not have even known we had.

Catch Vito Arujau vs Soslan Ramonov LIVE at RAF MOSCOW! Saturday, September 5!