Lucho Posted August 25 Posted August 25 For greco I think you have more or less said everyone who is eligible and I agree with the list. Just that Mohsennejad I think might have moved up to 72 so he might compete at that weight class so I'm not too sure who could replace him at 67, maybe Gholampour? Hard to say for certain. I think they have been sending u23 eligible guys to tournaments a lot for freestyle and greco so it is possible that they more or less know who they want for each weight class. I doubt many of our u20 guys this year will be moving up to u23s since they didn't perform great but you never know.
Bulldozer Without Brakes Posted August 25 Posted August 25 3 minutes ago, Lucho said: For greco I think you have more or less said everyone who is eligible and I agree with the list. Just that Mohsennejad I think might have moved up to 72 so he might compete at that weight class so I'm not too sure who could replace him at 67, maybe Gholampour? Hard to say for certain. I think they have been sending u23 eligible guys to tournaments a lot for freestyle and greco so it is possible that they more or less know who they want for each weight class. I doubt many of our u20 guys this year will be moving up to u23s since they didn't perform great but you never know. Mohsennezhad competed at 67kg in two tournaments this year already (in Feb and April). I don't see a reason why he wouldn't stay at 67. Good shout on Gholampour, haven't seen him in a while, he was a good prospect. Assume he hasn't been performing well though otherwise we would have seen more of him.
LJB Posted August 25 Posted August 25 The absolute most interesting about U23 is this will be the first time any of the international athletes have had to endure a 15hr flight and then perform 2 days afterwards… US athletes have to do it for every tourney… plus Vegas is a bit of a mind fuk the first time you experience it… it will be interesting…
Lucho Posted August 26 Posted August 26 5 hours ago, LJB said: The absolute most interesting about U23 is this will be the first time any of the international athletes have had to endure a 15hr flight and then perform 2 days afterwards… US athletes have to do it for every tourney… plus Vegas is a bit of a mind fuk the first time you experience it… it will be interesting… The bigger concern is whether the Iranian guys get visas. Since some of the coaches for Iran's U20 team didn't get visas to enter Slovakia for both freestyle and greco. Since it is in the US I fully expect there to be issues there as well. 1
LJB Posted August 26 Posted August 26 Interesting… Esmaeili is wrestling Poland this morning at 72kg… +2 tourney and still going 72…
Bulldozer Without Brakes Posted August 26 Posted August 26 1 hour ago, LJB said: Interesting… Esmaeili is wrestling Poland this morning at 72kg… +2 tourney and still going 72… that is nothing too surprising considering he hasn't competed at all in 2026. 67 guys usually wrestle up at 72 before major tournaments anyway (Reza Geraei, Zoidze, Jafarov all do/did this).
Bulldozer Without Brakes Posted August 26 Posted August 26 12 minutes ago, LJB said: Otto said Esmaeili doesn't look that big in person... yeah, he's not big for 67. Jafarov is notably larger than him.
LJB Posted August 26 Posted August 26 i do not recall thinking much of anything size wise last time they wrestled...
LJB Posted August 26 Posted August 26 hot take incoming... Esmaeili is really, really good... just tech smashed Gaspar and it wasn't really competitive at all... got away with a sneaky leg foul in par terre to spread gaspar's legs out for the lift...
LJB Posted August 26 Posted August 26 Nasibov stopped his par terre and then immediately after gave up a duck to his back and turn and then might as well challenge... lost it for the 8-0 tech first in the finals... Esmaeili's frame bigger than nasibov... maybe not as thick in spots, but, definitely not small... he is a full sized 67...
LJB Posted August 26 Posted August 26 just went back and got a little of 2025 gold medal match with jafarov... i had forgot how skinny Esmaeili looked... he has definitely filled out in the last year... Otto's frame is really good size for 67kg, but, he is still pretty light for the weight at the top end of international... not surprised he didn't think Esmaeili looked that big while next to him today...
Bulldozer Without Brakes Posted August 26 Posted August 26 3 hours ago, LJB said: just went back and got a little of 2025 gold medal match with jafarov... i had forgot how skinny Esmaeili looked... he has definitely filled out in the last year... Otto's frame is really good size for 67kg, but, he is still pretty light for the weight at the top end of international... not surprised he didn't think Esmaeili looked that big while next to him today... I am not yet sure if he has filled out or this is just how he looks pre weight cut for 67. Hopefully he has filled out, though, because Jafarov is huge for 67 and has been moving up and down between 67 and 72 for a long time. I suspect Jafarov will move up to 77 after 2028. Zoidze made a similar move and is having decent success at 77.
LJB Posted August 26 Posted August 26 it looked pretty obvious he has put on size... there is no way he could lose that much mass before worlds this year... this is him maturing...
Truzzcat Posted August 26 Posted August 26 On 8/22/2026 at 5:27 AM, Bulldozer Without Brakes said: I am not sure about Khateri, he is improving but remains quite far off the level. I am not sure he can beat Ahmad Javan any time soon, who is also very young (I think 21-22). Khateri does not seem like someone who is going to be at 61kg for the long term to me, he seems like he has an enormous frame and perhaps taking the amouzad approach and filling it out would be best for him. Khalili/Nezhad/Shamispour/Rahmani all have bright futures although Nezhad likely never beats Zare. 1 I am the personal property of VakAttack
Lucho Posted August 26 Posted August 26 7 minutes ago, LJB said: it looked pretty obvious he has put on size... there is no way he could lose that much mass before worlds this year... this is him maturing... They didn't want him cutting weight before worlds so this is his walk around weight. I suspect he has filled out quite a bit though compared to previous years since he was competing at 60kg at junior levels only a couple years ago. I don't think him and Jafarov can realistically make 67 past 2028 though they will probably move up.
LJB Posted August 26 Posted August 26 3 minutes ago, Lucho said: They didn't want him cutting weight before worlds so this is his walk around weight. I suspect he has filled out quite a bit though compared to previous years since he was competing at 60kg at junior levels only a couple years ago. I don't think him and Jafarov can realistically make 67 past 2028 though they will probably move up. Max's first match at a World event was against Esmaeili in 2022 at 60kg... he was a super long string bean kid at the time...
Lucho Posted August 26 Posted August 26 5 minutes ago, Truzzcat said: Khateri does not seem like someone who is going to be at 61kg for the long term to me, he seems like he has an enormous frame and perhaps taking the amouzad approach and filling it out would be best for him. Khalili/Nezhad/Shamispour/Rahmani all have bright futures although Nezhad likely never beats Zare. I'm not sure if Khateri makes a world team then if he moves up to 65 since he has to beat Amouzad. Unless Amouzad moves up due to weight cutting issues then it makes more sense for him to try to stay at 61 for as long as possible as it is much easier beating Javan than Amouzad for a world team spot. I'm also interested to see how the other young guys develop but I feel like it will be very difficult for them to transition into the senior team for the most part. At least for the next 2-3 years. Aside from Khalili the rest of them will have a very difficult time making world teams. 86, 92 and 125 are very competitive in Iran and even if Rahmani moves up to 97 he still has to beat Yazdani and/or Azarpira to make the team.
Bulldozer Without Brakes Posted August 26 Posted August 26 (edited) 1 hour ago, LJB said: it looked pretty obvious he has put on size... there is no way he could lose that much mass before worlds this year... this is him maturing... he can definitely cut from 74 to 67 in two months, but he is 23 and certainly also growing into his frame. I disagree with @Lucho about both him and Jafarov moving up after 2028, though. I think Esmaeili can comfortably stay at 67 for much longer than Jafarov. 1 hour ago, Truzzcat said: Khateri does not seem like someone who is going to be at 61kg for the long term to me, he seems like he has an enormous frame and perhaps taking the amouzad approach and filling it out would be best for him. Khalili/Nezhad/Shamispour/Rahmani all have bright futures although Nezhad likely never beats Zare. I agree, Khateri eventually moves up, his frame is huge for 61kg. But he doesn't have the strength that Amouzad had/has and he obviously isn't going to beat Amouzad at 65kg any time soon. We need a replacement for Ghasempour at 86kg as he turns 30 in December, but neither Rahmani nor Shamsipour seem close to taking the reins. I guess Nokhodi is an outside shot, his recent 5-0 loss to Kadiev will probably age well. I like Sina Khalili a lot and think he can have success at 70kg, and we know he beats Amir Yazdani so he could make the Olympic team at 74kg in 2028, but he's unlikely to be competitive there. We badly need a competitive 74kg wrestler, it's probably our weakest weight class (with 57kg), but no one is on the horizon. Edited August 26 by Bulldozer Without Brakes
LJB Posted August 26 Posted August 26 A 67kg guy can cut from 74 comfortably in 2 weeks… They can’t lose the mass that he has put on from last year in 2 months… he was noticeably bigger, but, I did not realize how much until going back and visually comparing him to last year…
Bulldozer Without Brakes Posted August 26 Posted August 26 (edited) 14 minutes ago, LJB said: A 67kg guy can cut from 74 comfortably in 2 weeks… They can’t lose the mass that he has put on from last year in 2 months… he was noticeably bigger, but, I did not realize how much until going back and visually comparing him to last year… you are comparing 74kg Poland Esmaeili to 67kg Zagreb Esmaeili you have to wait and compare with 67kg Astana Esmaeili Edited August 26 by Bulldozer Without Brakes
Bulldozer Without Brakes Posted August 27 Posted August 27 All the current GR world champions with long international win streaks are currently Iranian. Esmaeili (19), Saravi (28), and Mirzazadeh (11). All the other 2025 world champions have since lost (Lolua, Sultangali, Khalmakhanov, Ganizade, Amoyan, Farokhi, Komarov). P4P GR ranking must be dominated by Iranians.
Lucho Posted August 27 Posted August 27 23 hours ago, Bulldozer Without Brakes said: he can definitely cut from 74 to 67 in two months, but he is 23 and certainly also growing into his frame. I disagree with @Lucho about both him and Jafarov moving up after 2028, though. I think Esmaeili can comfortably stay at 67 for much longer than Jafarov. I agree, Khateri eventually moves up, his frame is huge for 61kg. But he doesn't have the strength that Amouzad had/has and he obviously isn't going to beat Amouzad at 65kg any time soon. We need a replacement for Ghasempour at 86kg as he turns 30 in December, but neither Rahmani nor Shamsipour seem close to taking the reins. I guess Nokhodi is an outside shot, his recent 5-0 loss to Kadiev will probably age well. I like Sina Khalili a lot and think he can have success at 70kg, and we know he beats Amir Yazdani so he could make the Olympic team at 74kg in 2028, but he's unlikely to be competitive there. We badly need a competitive 74kg wrestler, it's probably our weakest weight class (with 57kg), but no one is on the horizon. To be fair Jafarov has been wrestling at 72 for a while I wouldn't be surprised he moves up to 77 but given how good Azerbaijan are he might not make the team if Ganizade and Suleymanov are still competing. Esmaeili is more likely to move up and make the team since we don't have a good 77 but I don't see why he would unless he can't make the cut anymore. I don't think Rahmani makes 86 he is more likely to move up to 97 than cut down to 86. Nokhodi might also be considering transitioning to 86 soon since he is competing at Asian games at 86 before worlds. I also think Amir Mohammad Yazdani can medal at 74 depending on the bracket at worlds, olympics maybe not but if you look at the majority of the stars (Sidakov, Salkazanov, Valiev, Zhamalov etc) they are not going to be there past 2028 so there is a good chance of him becoming a consistent medal contender as those guys start to drop off. In saying that I think Khalili is a smarter wrestler but Yazdani is much more technical but has stagnated whilst Khalili is looking to be improving and has a higher floor whilst Yazdani imo has a higher ceilling.
Jackson Lininger Northern York, Pennsylvania Class of 2027 Committed to Slippery Rock Projected Weight: 149
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