Lucho

I agree with your Movahed take but in terms of overall medals and success its not really close tbh. Zare has been dominating since he was 19 and has multiple wins over all time heavy weights (Makhov, Geno, Akgul) as well as winning every worlds match this year by tech. Who else in super heavy weight has done that? Currently there are only 3 guys who have won the same amount of world titles in super heavy weight as him and they were all from the Soviet Era (Medved, Khashimikov and Andiyev) . It's not as easy to do what he is doing as people think. Zare's overall longevity if he wins 2027 worlds and 2028 LA puts him above Movahed. For greco I agree with your list but I would say that the Geraei's brought a lot of eyes to greco in Iran. Hedayati is amazing and will dominate for the next decade but it will require more than an LA gold to take that spot over Geraei imo. Our greco list tho is weaker than our freestyle imo. However I think that's more to do with our greco program developing all timers in the current era compared to freestyle which has historically been our strongest style. Out of the current crop of wrestlers in freestyle only Zare, Amouzad and Javan have shots of becoming all time greats for us. It's honestly a shame how Ghasempour's career has gone. He has become this era's Reza Yazdani.

Yeah I agree with the list. Honourable mentions would be Emam-Ali Habibi and Rasoul Khadem but I don't know who they would go over. You can't remove any of the current guys on the list. If Zare wins 2027 worlds and LA olympics he is Iran's greatest FS wrestler of all time and arguably the greatest super heavy weight of all time behind Medved. I think we probably need a separate one regardless for GR and FS since they are very different styles and there are a lot of deserving wrestlers who should be on it.

One thing I have been thinking of is potentially Iran looking into the US RTC model. Whilst its great we have a national training centre I also think it would be good to have one for each of the major wrestling provinces too. Imagine a similar one built in Mazandaran and Khuzestan not just in Tehran. I think it would help develop a lot more talent as there would be less need for travel. The national team guys should train in Tehran whilst the top guys in each province can train in their provincial training centres. Of course they don't have to be as big or extensive as the main one. A big reason as to why the US has jumped a lot in levels the past couple of years has been because of this. At the grass roots level the US and Russia are far ahead in terms of facilities and infrastructure compared to us. We have only recently been able to narrow the gap at senior level.

I had a look at Iran's head to head with Russia (including transfers) and US this year. We had a 3-3 record against the US and an 11-4 record against Russia. Overall we did well against both US and Russia in the head to heads what hurt us was at 65, 70 and 97 where we lost against non-Russian and US wrestlers. What is crazy is that we beat Russia's 3 Olympic champions. Although we weren't that good this year our results weren't as bad as it looks. Below is the win and loss list: Iran vs USA: 3-3 Win: Marcus Blaze, Wyatt Hendrickson, James Green Loss: Spencer Lee, Trent Hidlay, Levi Haines Iran vs Russia: 11-4 Win: Zavur Uguev, Ayub Musaev, Shamil Mamedov, Murad Kurmagomedov, Magomedkhabib Kadimagomedov, Dzhabrail Gadzhiev, Magomed Ramazanov, Akhmed Bataev, Akhmed Tazhudinov, Abdulla Kurbanov, Tajmuraz Salkazanov Loss: Inalbek Sheriev, Malik Shavaev, Abubakar Mutaliev, Ali Tcokaev

I wish Nokhodi won his final against Haines. He has only ever lost to the guy that has won the tournament. The one year I think he genuinely got screwed over was in 2024 as Kenchadtze got caught for doping so they awarded gold to Magamaev and silver to Nokhodi. Yousefi beat Magomaev at PWL and Nokhodi beat Takahashi for bronze who ended up winning 74kg worlds the year later. He is one of our most underrated wrestlers but just hasn't put it all together to win gold at worlds.

I think moving forward Firouzpour and especially Ghasempour shouldn't be given special treatment in selection. At 92 we have Rahmani and potentially Azimi if he doesn't move up who can beat Firouzpour. As others have mentioned you need to be able to takedown your opponents. Tcokaev and Hidlay built up leads that Firouzpour couldn't over come with his style of wrestling. I think Rahmani or Azimi will win out the spot next year. Ghasempour has shown the last 2 years he can't make the cut properly so we need to start looking for someone else. We have a couple young 86s coming through who I think deserve to be in contention for selection. I can also see Nokhodi try his luck at 86 and have Yousefi take his spot at 79. Amir Mohammad Yazdani won a medal against a guy that is the litmus test for anyone wanting to be a contender at 74. He deservingly won his spot in the team despite critics. Valizadeh also impressed me. He is quite technical and I think can develop into a medal contender with time.

Yeah you are right he won 4 at super heavy weight. I saw that stat with Zare as well but Hedayati pretty much did the same thing too at 130 greco this year. Either way Zare being tied with the 3 Soviet Union greats of super heavy weight at 25 is insane. Although I would argue historically super heavy weight was harder to win medals in compared to now. But still an amazing achievement that I hope he continues to repeat.

I had a look 2 of those 4 are in the weight class below unlimited which is now super heavy weight. Either way Medved is the super heavy weight GOAT but that was why I didn't put him in that list.

Zare's 4th world title at 125 puts him above Akgul, Petriashvilli, Makhov and Baumgartner in terms of senior world golds. He is now tied with Andiyev and Khasimikov in terms of most world titles in this weight class. If he wins one more he becomes the most titled wrestler in super heavy weight history which is insane. All that is missing is that Olympic gold. Otherwise he could've already been in the super heavyweight GOAT discussion.

I said earlier he can win if he wrestles aggressively. He ended up doing exactly that in the last 2 minutes. His only problem is his gas tank or else he would be the best wrestler in this weight class by far. Very very impressive tournament from him. I wouldn't have predicted him to be one of our world champs this year.

I think Iran agreed to let him go on the condition he couldn't compete for 2 years internationally. But I could be wrong. Either way Zare is looking way too good, I'm not sure Masoumi can hang with him for 6 minutes. His lack of serious wrestling for 2 years would have affected his development imo.

Historically selection for the national team was much more opaque than it is now. They have now adopted a mixture of the US and Russian approach which I think has worked out better. Essentially the way it works is as others have mentioned world/olympic medalists have to win one match against a competitor who has met the requirements to be a challenger (win Iran nationals, ranking tournaments etc). Azarpira beat Yoshida by faking injury time in a competition no one cares about. Once Yoshida and Azarpira's careers are over no one will look at Asian games medals as important. Only worlds and olympics matters. Azarpira had advantage over Yazdani in selection and still couldn't beat Yazdani once. This argument that Azarpira would have beaten Yoshida is ridiculous. Sujeet looked unstoppable in the Asian games teching Kudiev and then lost to him here. Worlds and Olympics is a different level.

Another interesting storyline can emerge at worlds this year if Dake wins worlds. He could become the greatest wrestler to never win olympic gold with 5 world titles at 3 different weights. Looks like the Burroughs, Taylor and Dake rivalry created absolute monsters. The US old guard are unstoppable so it seems.

The 97 guy is Magomed Kurbanov who lost to Ghasempour at 92 worlds in Oslo. This is Abdulla Kurbanov who was a guy Masoumi beat a couple times in U20 and U23 worlds. He is a younger guy that has dominated the Russian 125 circuit for a while.

Day 2 had way too much going on so I'm going to break it down by weight class. Javan 61kg: He did what he had to do to make his second finals appearance. Honestly exceeded my expectations and wrestled very smartly against Blaze (although I didn't like the fake injury) and Kazakh. Against India he was getting gassed and pulled the same shenanigans and managed to recover some energy. Against Uguev he needs to wrestle with much more temp and speed if he wants a chance to beat Uguev. But is becoming a consistent medal threat at this weight class which we haven't had in a while. Amouzad 65kg: Deserved to be in the final against Bassett. Again beat Mamedov who was more interested in defending than attacking. How there was no shot clock or warning is beyond me. Amouzad was clearly the better wrestler. Khalili 70kg: As expected loses to Ochir. Not too shocked or surprised here. He needs to build more strength to survive in this weight class. Ghasempour 86kg: I don't have any words. I don't want to talk about it. Yazdani 97kg: He bullied Tazhudinov for 6 minutes straight and won points the way he was at 86 in the whizzer. Tazhudinov couldn't do anything. Also amazing moment with Sadulaev afterwards in front of the crowd. Zare 125kg: He dominated Hendrickson who looked really in form. I guess he has learned from his mistake from previous years against shooters. He kept a very low guard and prevented Hendrickson from creating much. Very mature style of wrestling.

I think Amouzad was gassed tbh. He didn't have enough energy to wrestle with Tevanyan aggressively and it bit him. I don't think Tevanyan's strategy is going to work again though if they wrestle again but I think Amouzad is going to move up a weight class imo.

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.

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.

Yes winning the team title is incredibly important especially now that Russia's results count at worlds. Amouzad was the reigning world champ and he had already beaten all of those wrestlers on his side. So you would expect him to win if his body was in shape. His draw wasn't as bad compared to 86 for example. 125 is nowhere near as competitive as the other weights so you can't compare Zare's situation to Amouzad. Nokhodi is also not the favourite against Haines and Khaniev so his chance of winning gold is less than Amouzad and Zare too irrespective of the draw.

Yazdani and Amouzad are not favoured against Mamedov and Tazhudinov. Not by a long shot. Both matches are going to be incredibly tough and those two need to give everything they have to win them. Javan is getting teched by Blaze and Ghasempour might not even get to the quarters. The US sending 2 to the final on day 1 more or less seals the title for them. They have good draws at 57, 61, 79 and 92 where they have very very good wrestlers. US is going to do an Iran greco on the freestyle field.

Iran's best chance was 65 in terms of gold and Yazdani could've made the finals on paper. Iran's team is very poorly conditioned this year. Unless they bounce back today the US is winning by a landslide. Russia's 57, 74 and 125 reps are not great and will probably DNP this year. They need to rely on Uguev, Ibragimov, Khaniev and Kadiev to get to the final but it won't be easy at all. The Russian team like Iran have poor conditioning and will gas out if the match gets close. I can see Uguev and Ibragimov making finals tbh. Kadiev and Khaniev have very bad draws stylistically.

Tevanyan didn't even attack from the start of the match it was Amouzad initiating. The first shot clock shouldn't have even went on Amouzad in the first place. One thing I'm concerned about it is the weight cut. It seems like Amouzad has grown out of 65. The weight cut has also worsened his gas tank a lot. He isn't as aggressive which hurt him in this match especially.

I think today's results sealed the US team title tbh. For both Russia and Iran this is practically impossible to recover from. There is still Spencer Lee, Marcus Blaze, Levi Haines, Kyle Dake and Trent Hidlay to wrestle. Very big reality check for Iran freestyle. We are getting rinsed LA Olympics if this continues for the whole tournament.

How Amouzad was called for fleeing is beyond me. Tevanyan was defending the whole match and they gave Amouzad the passivity call is ridiculous. Not to mention the multiple head buts by Tevanyan. Awful start for Iran.

It depends I'm not too sure what the coaches will think after this loss tbh. They would probably both be sent to ranking series events and then the winner is who performs the best probably.