2026 UWW Men's Freestyle World Championships Discussion

[Danny_92]

15 minutes ago, 2001Hokie said:

I see the potential for the same match as the U23 matchup vs the Indian wrestler.  Slow, defensive, and plodding.  With his strength, can he frustrate Bo into mistakes and poor edge wrestling.  We'll see.  When going against a no-offense wrestler, I'll always lean towards the aggressor, but as we saw vs Amouzad, you just never know.  

Was the indian who beat Bo atU23  that good ?  Tevanyan isn't nearly technical  as magomedov with countering shots. But he does have better stamina than Magomedov and even Amouzad  .

Interesting to see if Bo go with the same strategy of today of pushing the pace and constantly shooting or wrestle a more conservative match because after all this is a final  for gold and the mental aspect could be a factor.

I would advise Bo pressure from the getgo and go for the kill. Pressure him till he melts

[2001Hokie]

Just now, Danny_92 said:

Was the indian who beat Bo atU23  that good ?  Tevanyan isn't nearly technical  as magomedov with countering shots. But he does have better stamina than Magomedov and even Amouzad  .

Interesting to see if Bo go with the same strategy of today of pushing the pace and constantly shooting or wrestle a more conservative match because after all this is a final  for gold and the mental aspect could be a factor.

I would advise Bo pressure from the getgo and go for the kill. Pressure him till he melts

I don't think he's as good, but he had an amazing strategy.  Hold firm on defensive posture and hand-fighting.  Wait for minor mistakes and take quick advantage.  Realistically, the U23 Indian should've lost on criteria, but the frustration for a wrestler like Bo who is full speed ahead is tough to accept, which made him lose.  We saw the frustration vs Amouzad yesterday.  I personally think Bo learned and will win, and I'm a VT homer for sure!!!, but the strategy is very much out there.  Either wait for Bo to make a mistake (or multiple) OR let him be overly aggressive, give him a leg and then pull him over the top if you have the strength like the Russian today.

[AnklePicker]

5 hours ago, BruceyB said:

I mean, I'll agree that it's clearly effective but I would never show a young wrestler her matches from Worlds as any kind of inspiration. Winning a match 2-1 on passivity points and then clinging to fingers for the majority of a match to prevent wrestling from happening might be effective but it is not what I'm looking for young wrestlers to aspire to.

I get that most people don't care what it takes as long as America wins, but I honestly felt bad for Harada in the same way that I felt bad for Jax after he lost the series to Marcus. Both Jax and Harada were there to wrestle and may the best wrestler win, Blaze and Leydecker were there to limit the wrestling as much as possible, get a point or two, and earn the win playing the game. It's effective, especially in freestyle if you're able to hold center, but I just can't stand watching that style as a fan. I want to see wrestlers go out and wrestle.

I understand and agree.  I should have clarified.  I’m thinking as a former high school coach who needed some of my guys, who didn’t know much about wrestling, to be able to go out and battle through a match.  First step in getting good is learning how to not get pinned by a really good guy.  

[MPhillips]

4 hours ago, Simpleman424 said:

Japan can win their bronze…we’ll take the two golds

Of course...

[Rassling]

6 minutes ago, Danny_92 said:

would advise Bo pressure from the getgo and go for the kill. Pressure him till he melt

that seems to be his exact game plan. what a freakin machine. I wonder what kind of impression he’s making with his D1 opponents. 

[Danny_92]

Against gadzhi magomedov he looked like he can go another 6 min. Unmatched pace but not really technical .

[Simpleman424]

9 minutes ago, MPhillips said:

Of course...

Well I didn’t want to just leave them with nothing…

[LJB]

9 minutes ago, Danny_92 said:

Against gadzhi magomedov he looked like he can go another 6 min. Unmatched pace but not really technical .

it maybe hard to believe for someone who hasn't followed him for very long, but...

his technique has improved dramatically in the last year...

 

[MPhillips]

9 minutes ago, Simpleman424 said:

Well I didn’t want to just leave them with nothing…

Why?

[Simpleman424]

18 minutes ago, MPhillips said:

Why?

I lived there a couple years…I like em enough to give them that

[BAC]

One of the best days of freestyle wrestling that I can remember.  One day produced the following:

--Snyder's come from behind win over Sadulaev

--Bassett's comeback from being 9 points down with 2 minutes left to win 14-13

--Yoshida's win over Yazdani with 0.1 seconds on the clock

--Nwachukwu's world gold with by getting a TD with just a couple seconds left.

Amazing!

[MPhillips]

11 minutes ago, Simpleman424 said:

I lived there a couple years…I like em enough to give them that

Fair...

[Lucho]

If Snyder wins worlds this year where does he stack up all time for USA wrestling? I think 2-3 years ago the narrative was that Snyder is below guys like Burroughs, Smith, Baumgartner and Taylor due to his losses to Sadulaev preventing that era of dominance these guys had. But I think now that Snyder pinned Sadulaev and beat him again at worlds this year maybe that narrative has changed? If he wins his 5th gold I think there could be an argument here. Also the US has developed an incredible generation of Burroughs, Dake, Snyder and Taylor. 3 Olympic Golds and 17 world championships is an insane medal haul from 4 wrestlers.  

Also I hope Bassett techs Tevanyan. He robbed his way to the final. Amouzad and Mamedov are much better wrestlers than him. Would be crazy to see a 20 year old win senior worlds at 65.

[Sulyvahn]

10 minutes ago, Lucho said:

If Snyder wins worlds this year where does he stack up all time for USA wrestling? I think 2-3 years ago the narrative was that Snyder is below guys like Burroughs, Smith, Baumgartner and Taylor due to his losses to Sadulaev preventing that era of dominance these guys had. But I think now that Snyder pinned Sadulaev and beat him again at worlds this year maybe that narrative has changed? If he wins his 5th gold I think there could be an argument here. Also the US has developed an incredible generation of Burroughs, Dake, Snyder and Taylor. 3 Olympic Golds and 17 world championships is an insane medal haul from 4 wrestlers.  

Also I hope Bassett techs Tevanyan. He robbed his way to the final. Amouzad and Mamedov are much better wrestlers than him. Would be crazy to see a 20 year old win senior worlds at 65.

I think Snyder would be above Baumgartner. Sad is better than Gobi and Bruce's boycott gold shouldn't count as a top title. The field was decimated. 

The others (and I think I would maybe even add Gable) get more complicated as you have to weigh in Snyder's abundant losses and lack of dominance. 

 

[RAFWiki]

7 minutes ago, Lucho said:

If Snyder wins worlds this year where does he stack up all time for USA wrestling? I think 2-3 years ago the narrative was that Snyder is below guys like Burroughs, Smith, Baumgartner and Taylor due to his losses to Sadulaev preventing that era of dominance these guys had. But I think now that Snyder pinned Sadulaev and beat him again at worlds this year maybe that narrative has changed? 

Khaniev has Snyder's number - RAF should book that match since I'm sure Snyder would like to try and get his win back from earlier this year

I thought we were going to get it at RAF Moscow - Snyder was openly asking for the match on social media, and Khaniev put out a video saying he was going to take Snyder's belt. 

Maybe @Husker_Du can shed some light on what happened there

[Lucho]

33 minutes ago, RAFWiki said:

Khaniev has Snyder's number - RAF should book that match since I'm sure Snyder would like to try and get his win back from earlier this year

I thought we were going to get it at RAF Moscow - Snyder was openly asking for the match on social media, and Khaniev put out a video saying he was going to take Snyder's belt. 

Maybe @Husker_Du can shed some light on what happened there

Respectfully Khaniev would get murdered. The only guy that can hang with Snyder for 6 minutes straight is Yoshida. Even Sadulaev took "injury" time as he was gassed out. Khaniev gassed to Azimi at u23s imagine what Snyder would do.

[peanut]

54 minutes ago, Lucho said:

If Snyder wins worlds this year where does he stack up all time for USA wrestling? I think 2-3 years ago the narrative was that Snyder is below guys like Burroughs, Smith, Baumgartner and Taylor due to his losses to Sadulaev preventing that era of dominance these guys had. But I think now that Snyder pinned Sadulaev and beat him again at worlds this year maybe that narrative has changed? If he wins his 5th gold I think there could be an argument here. Also the US has developed an incredible generation of Burroughs, Dake, Snyder and Taylor. 3 Olympic Golds and 17 world championships is an insane medal haul from 4 wrestlers.  

Also I hope Bassett techs Tevanyan. He robbed his way to the final. Amouzad and Mamedov are much better wrestlers than him. Would be crazy to see a 20 year old win senior worlds at 65.

Snyder right now has five world/Olympic golds. Another gold would give him six (and 11 medals overall). That would land him in the top three US wrestlers for sure (with Smith and Burroughs).

[dragit]

Long day at the office, so finally had a big enough chunk of time to watch Bassett's quarterfinal match.  Amazing.  Inspirational.  I assume someone from USA Wrestling will remind him to declare Magomedov's soul on his Customs form when he goes home.   

[AgaveMaria]

No mention of Snyder using the Sanderson Ankle Pick. A few years ago we didn't see this - more force, not finesse.

[bnwtwg]

3 hours ago, Lucho said:

If Snyder wins worlds this year where does he stack up all time for USA wrestling?

Same place he was yesterday morning before the tourney began: above Baumgartner, below Burroughs and Smith, and if he gets two more titles (which sounds insane for his age!) then the GOAT convo can be had for peak vs longevity. One heckuva Mount Rushmore of USA wrestling. 

[bnwtwg]

Also, is anyone getting this mobile overwrite ad that pushes to a "McAfee" malware site same tab? @BobDole and @Husker_Du might want to get it taken care of because it means source was compromised...

[Tyler Perry]

I enjoyed myself. Was watching the matches at 3AM while on the treadmill, got up, took my shoes off, turned it off, then went to step over it but the belt was still on and my toe got stuck in the treadmill and ripped the skin off. Ready for day 2 

[AlderPeak]

86kg - Dake wins 6-5 over Naadambat of Mongolia.  Dake didn't look all that good in the match...pretty underwhelming.

[dragit]

Hendrickson 10-0. Total domination. Best version of him I've seen.  Looks faster and more athletic.  Look out

[nhs67]

Great win for Hendrickson there.