Eric Bischoff Explains Why UFC Approves Its Fighters Competing in Real American Freestyle Wrestling

During a recent interview with Action Network, WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff explained why UFC fighters such as Michael Chandler and Bo Nickal are allowed to compete in his Real American Freestyle promotion. He also discussed Olympic gold medalist and former WWE talent Gable Stevenson joining RAF. Below are some highlights:

Eric Bischoff on UFC Approving Fighters to Compete in RAF

“It gets approved by UFC. There is an approval process, and so far, that approval process has been going just smoothly. The fighters communicate with UFC, UFC communicates with us to the extent they need to, for exchange of releases, and just to confirm and things like that, but we have a good working relationship. I hope the UFC looks at us as an opportunity. I hope we see stars emerge out of Real American Freestyle that Dana White and Hunter may look at and go, ‘You know what? That person may have a future in UFC.’ I don’t know. I hope so. Because the skill sets are so closely aligned, and we’re not competitive. Nobody’s gonna confuse Real American Freestyle for UFC anytime in the near future.”

On Gable Stevenson Potentially Joining Real American Freestyle

“Gabe Stevenson is one of the first people that we talked to, Chad and Izzy and I and Hulk, when we first got together. We were sitting around at Chad’s house, sitting around his kitchen table, all excited about taking over the freestyle wrestling world. And one of the first people that we reached out to was, Gabe. We had a long conversation with him, he was very interested in working with us, competing with us, but he was still kind of weighing his MMA options, and I think he’s found the correct course for himself, and is pursuing that. But at some point, you know, once he gets his MMA rhythm going, we hope to see him on the map.”

Gable Stevenson was previously released by WWE last year. Real American Freestyle Wrestling 3, presented by Eric Bischoff, takes place on Saturday, November 29 at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois.