Lucho

I watched that match live, it was a deserved win but I don't think that had anything particularly down to the coaching staff. If for example he beat Uguev then I would be saying that there was exceptional coaching at play which helped him. One thing I did like from him though was that he was just quite disciplined and fought hard. His mentality was really good imo and I think we will hear more from him in the future. The coaching staff made the right choice with selecting him. Ali Momeni and Amir Mohammad Yazdani on the otherhand... the less I say the better.

I think he just got out wrestled by Harutyunyan. I'm just as shocked as you tbh. I thought him and Zare were guaranteed gold medals but it looks like you can't bet on light weights at all. Harutyunyan is a super tricky wrestler so its not that surprising he won its just that I would've thought the American strength and conditioning would have kept it a lot closer. Maybe Lee needs to go train at PSU or OSU as Iowa's ability to consistently produce international hammers has diminished in the modern era.

How much of that was due to the bracket though? If he was on the other side the best he could have gotten was bronze and if Ono and Vito were here he wouldn't be medalling. Him and Ahoura Khateri sort of had identical results they both navigated their way to the final only to get dominated by the number one guy in the field. Have we started to develop decent 61s or is it just a fluke result.

The expectation in Iran at least for Firouzpour and Ghasempour was gold. The fact that American guys won rubs more salt in the wound especially in the absence of Yazdani and Ghasempour going down just to lose to Valencia. Every year the expectation is the team title and multiple gold medals especially since both the US and Russia are in a rebuild.

I hope Nokhodi goes to 74 and Ghasempour goes up to 92. As I've been saying Zahid is the kind of guy who could win it all. I don't think anyone is touching him if he continues to have Taylor as his coach. Firouzpour realistically needs to go down to 86kg if he wants to make the team.

Some of these draws are actually ridiculous. 70, 74 and 86kg look like some of the craziest brackets I've ever seen. UWW needs to sort out their seeding policy because how is Valencia, Ghasempour and Kadiev all on the one side of the bracket. Aside from that I don't really see much issue with the draws tbh. Its the world champs not your neighbourhood rec league. All I'm hoping for is that we see everyone in top condition so we get the best wrestling possible. This would have been the best worlds in years if Sadulaev was allowed to compete. A worlds without the GOAT isn't a world championship tbh.

I reckon its the opposite tbh. There is nothing from Emami that suggests he can medal this year whereas Javan is at least younger and with a favourable bracket might be able to pull off an upset or 2. Especially since 61 is weaker this year with Ono out.

I don't think the money is the issue for Iranian guys to come over its moreso the visa situation. In the past high level Iranian athletes have struggled to come to the US and compete in various competitions because of it. Especially with the current climate, I doubt there would be much incentive to ease those restrictions. Of course if RAF could become global it would be amazing for the sport but for the Iranian guys to come the tournaments would have to be in UAE or something kind of like how UFC does it.

Can Yazdani fill out at 97 properly??? Imo he should go to 92 and win a couple more world titles tbh. His legacy wouldn't be ruined by dominating at a non-olympic weight class JB did it and he is one of the GOATS. I just don't think he will be big enough for that weight class especially since Ghasempour struggled to make it as well and he was coming up from 92.

From what I understand is that they made him go to 86kg 2 years too early. I still think he makes the weight relatively easily its just a matter of how well he matches up against Kadik, Kadiev and Valencia which is the issue. His match against Kadiev last year was too close imo and Kadiev should only be getting better. I'm really hoping he beats them all to win gold as that would be an incredibly impressive run and probably the most impressive run for an Iranian ever to win a world/olympic gold tbh.

The problem with the US hosting these tournaments is that its very difficult for Iranian and Russian guys to come and compete. It is also very unlikely that Iranian guys will come over because we already have our own league in place with top Russian guys also competing there as well. RAF will only be a good draw for maybe Japanese and Cuban guys everyone else will be competing in Russia (PWL) or Iran.

No Sadulaev means Tazhudinov murders the whole field on his way to gold. For US and Iran, our chance of medalling increased drastically but it also means worse quality wrestling with him out. Of course anything can happen at worlds but Tazhudinov gives off the kind of aura that Sadulaev has and that guy doesn't lose.

This could either be a stroke of genius or a complete disaster. Payam Ahmadi is great but with such little time for world's this could end up really bad. Also I don't think he would be seeded so he could hit Azizli first round which would be awful. I'm not too sure about this one tbh.

Yeah 65 is an actual mess in terms of predicting who is going to win it every year. I think it also has do to with the fact that the vast majority of countries can field top level guys at that weight class. Compare that to 57 or 125 where the number of elite guys is far less purely due to genetics. It is very unlikely you will find an elite 125 from Japan or an elite 57 from Iran because of that. I also think there is a lot of parity because its pretty much impossible to prep for 8-10 high level guys for a worlds/olympics. Olympics last year had Muszukaev, Dudaev, Amouzad, Retherford, Kiyooka, Rivera, Aliyev, Ochir, Akmataliev and Tevanyan. More than half of the guys in the bracket were world/olympic medalists. That's just stupid depth. So a little under performance in one match can cost you a medal. I think this is where the Russian guys benefit the most because of how nuts their brackets are domestically they are used to it so they better navigate through. Whereas in Iran and US there isn't as much depth domestically so our guys aren't as used to these sort of brackets.

I'm a bit confused. Does this impact his olympic medal then? This is the first time I've heard a US wrestler get popped for PEDs which is kinda crazy to think about. He will be what 27/28 by LA so him being banned is going to have drastic impact on US chances at 86/97kg. I guess by then he will be a filled out 97 so he will have to beat Snyder for the spot I'm guessing unless the US produces anyone better than him in the next 3 years.