Submitted photo Canfield native Georgio Poullas in his RAF gear during a promotional shoot.

Georgio Poullas always had an entrepreneurial spirit.

Growing up in Canfield, he starred on the wrestling mat. But he envisioned more for himself.

Now, Poullas is getting ready for one of the biggest stages of his new career. He’s set for a 175-pound matchup with Arman Tsarukyan in a Real American Freestyle (RAF) bout on Feb. 28.

Tsarukyan is ranked second in the lightweight class and has a 23-3 record, according to UFC.

The match is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. in Tempe, Ariz., and it will be televised on FOX Nation.

“They’re creating these superstar matches that you just don’t get anywhere else,” Poullas said. “They’re doing a really good job at promoting the sport of wrestling.

“Everybody has these fantasies about who they want to see wrestle who, depending on the weight class or the way the tournament goes or what side of the bracket a guy is on. You miss out on a lot of these superstar matchups that you wish you got to see. And what RAF is doing, they’re creating that for the fans.

It will be Poullas’ second match since joining RAF, a new professional wrestling league that brings in athletes of different styles.

“It’s not just wrestlers. They’re bringing in UFC guys to crosspromote, they’re bringing fighters from different organizations to crosspromote, and they’re really doing a phenomenal job at it,” Poullas said.

Poullas said RAF is providing a professional league that didn’t exist in wrestling, and it was something the Canfield native had intentions of starting himself prior to joining.

Poullas wanted to start a league that featured wrestlers, football players and other athletes with a significant following. They would have faced off in one-minute periods, with the first takedown winning the period.

“When RAF came around, I was like, ‘Wow, this is really great. They’re essentially getting all the clients and athletes that I would’ve had in mine, for the most part,'” Poullas said. “So I hopped on board with them.”

After graduating from Canfield in 2017, Poullas joined the Cleveland State wrestling team. He later transferred to Rider University for his junior season. When he felt his time in college had run its course, he returned to the Mahoning Valley. He always wanted to coach his brother, so he became a Cardinals coach.

Poullas admitted that he felt “burnt out” with wrestling. He was also feeling “content” with where he was at after returning home, a feeling that scared him.

He wanted to work in fitness and blend it with social media. He realized that the Youngstown area wasn’t the right spot for that, so he moved to Los Angeles.

“I started doing fitness content,” Poullas said. “Got myself 200,000 followers through fitness content, I became a Rawgear athlete – which was a goal of mine out here – and then I started to miss the sport of wrestling.”

To fill the void, he started a video challenge. Take him down and get $100 — regardless of wrestling experience — but the draw wasn’t necessarily there. So he increased the prize money to $1,000, and the series took off.

“The idea came from me not being in wrestling anymore, wanted to wrestle but wasn’t competing,” Poullas said. “So how can I get strangers to wrestle me and how can I make it fun and exciting? My goal was really, ‘How can I promote the sport of wrestling?’ Well, I used the internet to do that.”

After six months’ worth of talks, Poullas agreed to join RAF. In his first fight last month, he picked up a win via tech fall in the first period.

Now he’s got a televised fight coming up at the end of the month.

“As weird as it is to say, I knew I was going to be here one day,” Poullas said. “I don’t know how, but I had that gut feeling, in the back of my mind, in my heart that this is where I was going to be.”