All Activity

We’re just over 12 hours away from the first matches at the 2025 Senior World Championships. Brackets were released earlier this morning and wrestling fans frantically looked to see where the Americans were placed in the bracket and where their foreign adversaries were located. We’ve done the same and broken down paths to the finals for all ten of the Americans in the men’s freestyle tournament. Below are credentials for their initial opponent and then some for their most likely opponents through their half of the bracket. 57 kg Spencer Lee Round of 16 opponent: Winner of Sunggwon Kim (South Korea)/Yusuf Demir (Turkiye) Kim: 2021 Asian 5th place, 2017 World 9th place Demir: 2023 U23 World 12th place, 2022 European U23 5th place Potential quarterfinal opponent Arsen Harutyunyan (Armenia): 3x World bronze medalist, 2024 Olympic 7th place, 4x European champion Azamat Tuskaev (Serbia): 2025 European silver medalist, 2020 European champion, 2024 World 8th place Potential Semifinal opponent Ali Hossein Momeni (Iran): 2024 U23 World bronze medalist Roman Bravo-Young (Mexico): 2025 Pan-American champion, 2024 Olympic 12th place Darian Cruz (Puerto Rico): 2024 Olympic 5th place, 2x Pan-American silver medalist Chongshong Han (North Korea): 2025 Asian Champion Verdict: Pretty good. Lee will have a test in the quarterfinals from either Harutyunyan or Tusakev. It may end up being his biggest challenge pre-finals. A match versus NCAA champions Bravo-Young or Cruz could be fun in the semis. 61 kg Jax Forrest Round of 32 opponent: Sangboum Han (South Korea) Han: 2025 World Military bronze medalist Potential Round of 16 opponent Takara Suda (Japan): 2025 Asian Champion, 2025 Hungarian and Albanian Ranking Series champion Potential quarterfinal opponent Udit Kumar (India): 2x Asian silver medalist, 2x Asian champion Tairybek Zhumashbek Uulu (KGZ): 2023 World bronze Potential semifinals opponent Zavur Uguev (Russia): 2020(1) Olympic gold, 2x World champion Verdict: Tough. Forrest’s second opponent, Suda, might be the best wrestler in the bracket. Should he get by Suda, he could have a world medalist in the quarters and then Uguev lurking in the semis. Forrest has surprised us (and other opponents) before. 65 kg Real Woods Round of 32 opponent: Maxim Sacultan (Moldova) Sacultan: 2024 Olympic 9th place, 2023 World 5th place Potential Round of 16 opponent: Rahman Amouzad (Iran): 2024 Olympic silver medalist, 2022 World silver medalist Potential quarterfinals opponent Sujeet Kalkal (India): 2024 U23 World bronze medalist, 2025 U23 Asian champion Kwang-Jin Kim (North Korea): 2025 Asian bronze medalist Potential semifinals opponent Khamzat Arsamerzouev (France): 2025 European silver medalist, 2023 European U23 champion, 2022 U20 World bronze medalist Ali Rahimzada (Azerbaijan): 4x European bronze medalist Krzysztof Bienkowski (Poland): 2021 World 5th place Verdict: Tough. Woods’ first opponent is no pushover, but beatable. Then comes top-seeded Amouzad. The good news is that if he can beat Amouzad, there’s a much clearer path towards the finals. 70 kg PJ Duke Round of 32 opponent: Shuang Chen (China) Chen: Albanian Ranking Series 17th place Potential Round of 16 opponent: Nurkozha Kaipanov (Kazakhstan): 2024 World champion, 2x World medalist (1,2), 3x Asian champion Potential quarterfinals opponent Austin Gomez (Mexico): 2025 Pan-American champion, 2025 Zagreb Open bronze medalist Haydar Yavuz (Turkiye): 2020 European bronze medalist, 2017 U23 5th place Potential semifinals opponent Akaki Kemertelidze (Georgia): 2024 World 5th place, 2024 European silver medalist Vasile Diacon (Moldova): 2023 European bronze medalist, 2023 U23 World 5th place Tulga Tumur Ochir (Mongolia) - 2021 World bronze, 2024 Olympic 5th place, 2x Asian silver medalist Verdict: Tough. I’d expect Duke to roll in his first match. That would set the stage for a Round of 16 match with the returning world champion Kaipanov. While he’s the biggest hurdle, there are some other potential tough matches even with a win over Kaipanov. 74 kg David Carr Round of 32 opponent: Rasul Shapiev (North Macedonia) Shapiev: 2025 European 14th place Potential Round of 16 opponent: Ramazan Ramazanov (Bulgaria): 2023 World bronze Potential quarterfinals opponent: Chermen Valiev (Albania): 2024 Olympic bronze medalist, 2x U23 World medalist (1,2), 2025 European champion Potential semifinals opponent: Zaurbek Sidakov (Russia) - 2020 Olympic gold, 3x World champion Murad Kuramagomedov (Hungary): 2x European 5th place Turan Bayramov (Azerbaijan): 2024 Olympic 13th place, 2021 European silver medalist, 2023 World 5th place Orozobek Toktomambetov (Kyrgyzstan): 2025 Asian silver Verdict: Rough. Carr’s should be ok in the first round. It gets tougher from there as he likely has to beat a world/Olympic medalist in each of his next three matches to make the finals. Most notably would be Sidakov in the semis. 79 kg Levi Haines Round of 32 opponent: Khidir Saipudinov (Bahrain) Saipudinov: 2025 Asian bronze medalist Potential Round of 16 opponent: Dejan Mitrov (North Macedonia): 2025 European 16th place Bumgue Seo (Korea): 2x Asian 7th place Potential quarterfinal opponent: Vladimeri Gamkrelidze (Georgia): 2023 World silver medalist, 2023 U23 World bronze medalist, 2025 European bronze medalist Akhmed Usmanov (Russia): 2023 World champion, 2x European champion Potential semifinal opponent: Suldkhuu Olonbayar (Mongolia): 2x Asian bronze medalist Daulet Yergesh (Kazakhstan): 2022 U23 World silver medalist Zelimkhan Khadjiev (France): 2019 World bronze medalist Verdict: Decent. Haines should cruise through his first two matches. Things get much tougher in the quarterfinals with either of the two past world finalists. The potential semifinalists don’t look quite as challenging, so repechage is in the picture if Haines can’t get past the quarters. 86 kg Zahid Valencia Round of 32 opponent: Mukul Dahiya (India) Dahiya: 2025 Asian 5th place Potential Round of 16 opponent: Fateh Benferdjallah (Algeria): 2x African champion Weng Chow (Singapore): 2023 Asian 5th place Potential quarterfinals opponent: Avtandil Kentchadze (Georgia): 2024 World champion, 2x World medalist (1,2), 4x European bronze medalist Potential semifinal opponent: Osman Gocen (Turkiye): 3x European bronze Ibragim Kadiev (Russia): 2x U20 World champion Kamran Ghasempour (Iran): 2x World champion Verdict: Good. You may not agree, judging by world champions potentially in the quarters and semis, but Valencia is wrestling as good as ever. You’ve got to beat the best to win a world title, Valencia gets a couple of warm-up matches and then gets tested. 92 kg Trent Hidlay Round of 32 opponent: Redjep Hajdari (North Macedonia) Hajdari: 2024 European 7th place Potential Round of 16 opponent: Andrew Johnson (Canada): 2025 Pan-American silver medalist Samuel Scherrer (Switzerland): 2024 World 11th place, 2023 European 8th place Potential quarterfinals opponent Miriani Maisuradze (Georgia): 2x World medalist (2,3), 4x European bronze medalist Takashi Ishiguro (Japan): 2x Asian bronze medalist Magomed Sharipov (Bahrain): 2x Asian bronze medalist Potential semifinals opponent Dauren Kurugliev (Greece): 2024 Olympic bronze medalist, 4x European champion Osman Nurmagomedov (Azerbaijan): 3x World medalist (2, 3x2), 2x European silver medalist Deepak Punia (India): 2019 World silver medalist, 2x Asian silver medalist Verdict: Very good. Hidlay’s Senior world debut could be a good one. He has two rounds of very winnable matches. Even in the quarterfinals, he could have a #1 seed who he’s beaten this year. Even the semis could produce Kurugliev, who he beat by injury default earlier this year. 97 kg Kyle Snyder Round of 16 opponent: Winner of Adam Jaksik (Slovakia)/Cristian Sarco (Venezuela) Jaksik: 2024 U20 World bronze medalist, 2025 European 15th place Sarco: 2024 Pan-American bronze medalist Potential quarterfinals opponent: Zbigniew Baranowski (Poland): 2024 Olympic 8th place, 2019 European silver medalist David Mchedlidze (Ukraine): 2025 European U23 bronze medalist, 2023 U23 World 10th place Arturo Silot Torres (Cuba): 2024 Olympic 9th place, 4x Pan-American silver medalist Potential semifinals opponent: Givi Matcharashvili (Georgia): 2024 Olympic silver medalist, 2x World medalist (3,3), 3x European champion Arash Yoshida (Japan): 2025 Asian champion, Albania Ranking Series Champion Verdict: Very good. Snyder starts his tournament in the Round of 16 and should cruise there. There are a couple of veterans expected to be waiting in the quarters. All very winnable. In the semis, it gets tougher, but no one Snyder couldn’t beat. 125 kg Wyatt Hendrickson Round of 32 opponent: Abdulla Kurbanov (Russia) Kurbanov: 2024 U23 World bronze, 2023 World 5th place Potential Round of 16 opponent: Dzianis Khramiankou (Belarus): 2025 European bronze medalist, 2020(1) Olympic 9th place Potential quarterfinals opponent: Shamil Sharipov (Bahrain): 2x Asian bronze medalist, Hungarian Ranking Series champion Potential semifinals opponent: Amir Zare (Iran): 2x Olympic medalist (2,3), 2x World champion, 3x World medalist (1,3,1) Verdict: Tough. There are no easy matches for Hendrickson. He gets the Russian right away and gets opponents of a similar caliber up until the semifinals, where Zare is expected to be waiting. With Zare looming in the semis, advancing to that point is crucial, as the other possible opponents probably don’t beat him.