Umar Kremlev, president of the International Boxing Association, formalized a new partnership between his organization and Real American Freestyle, the U.S. professional wrestling league, in a signing ceremony held in Moscow on Friday.
The agreement, which lays the groundwork for a broader international tournament calendar and a wider geographic footprint for RAF competitions, was signed by Kremlev alongside RAF’s leadership team of CEO and co-founder Chad Bronstein and Chief Operating Officer and co-founder Izzy Martinez.
The deal maps out an ambitious slate of events stretching across Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, China, Tajikistan and India, positioning RAF for a level of international exposure it has not previously had. The first tournament to come out of the new alliance, RAF Moscow, was set for Sunday, giving fans an immediate look at what the partnership could produce.
Kremlev spoke warmly about what the league offers its competitors, saying it “gives athletes the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities, and I am pleased that they have come here to show that we are defending sport.” He was equally direct about what he sees as the priority for any event under the new banner, noting that “the most important thing is that it is exciting for the spectators.”
Beyond the immediate schedule, Kremlev pointed to Central Asia as a region where the two organizations intend to keep building. According to sources, he floated a considerably larger ambition for next year: staging an event at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, a venue capable of holding around 81,000 people.
Kremlev also framed the partnership in terms that reached beyond sport altogether. With American and Russian athletes able to gather in Moscow despite the continuing war between Russia and Ukraine, he suggested the league could serve a purpose well outside the arena.
“We can build a bridge between the United States and Russia, so that people can travel from one country to the other without the need for a visa,” he said.
Ahead of Sunday’s competition, RAF athletes took part in a meet-and-greet and wrestling clinic on Saturday, where fans lined up for autographs and photos and had the chance to watch the competitors up close. The tournament itself was scheduled to unfold at Mytishchi Arena.
The Moscow signing arrived just as Kremlev’s name was surfacing in an entirely different context back in the United States.
Donald Trump Jr. and his wife, Bettina, confirmed this week that Kremlev had covered the costs of a celebration held after their wedding, hosted on a private island in the Bahamas. The gathering began the day after the couple’s ceremony in May, and according to reporting from ProPublica, Kremlev’s spending ran into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, covering accommodations and festivities for dozens of guests as well as a fireworks display.
Bettina addressed the arrangement directly, describing it as an act of friendship rather than anything more calculated. Posting on Instagram under a message signed “Don & Bettina,” she wrote, “Our dear friend Umar very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us after our wedding. It was an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend, and something for which we were and remain incredibly grateful.”
She also pushed back on the idea that the trip had been designed around the wedding at all, explaining that the timing came together somewhat by coincidence.
“Been planned well in advance as a fun weekend with friends. It was never intended to be our wedding weekend. When our original wedding plans changed, we simply decided to get married before it and arrived at an already planned weekend as newlyweds,” she said. Other members of the Trump family were reportedly part of that same island trip.
Bettina didn’t shy away from the scrutiny the story has drawn, arguing that Kremlev’s background shouldn’t automatically color a personal gesture.
“It’s unfortunate that something so personal and happy can be recast as something political or sinister simply because of who someone is or where they come from,” she said, adding, “Friendship doesn’t require a political motive. Generosity doesn’t automatically come with an agenda. And sometimes a wedding gift is simply a wedding gift.”
Donald Trump, who was not present for either the wedding or the island celebration, offered his own account when asked by NBC News, calling the whole matter “not a big deal.” He went further in distancing himself from Kremlev personally, stating, “I have no idea who Umar is, never heard of him, and he didn’t pay for Don and Bettina’s wedding, which took place at a totally different location, and on a different day from the wedding.”
He described the island gathering as “an ‘afterparty’ given in their honor,” reiterating, “Not a big deal! I was not present at the party.”
The financial arrangement has nonetheless drawn attention given who footed the bill. Kremlev has been described as a businessman with close ties to Vladimir Putin and has faced sanctions from the Ukrainian government, details that have fueled questions in Washington.
Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, called for transparency around the gift, saying Kremlev “spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the President’s son,” and adding, “What did he get in return? We need answers.”
