Bulldozer Without Brakes

Yasar Dogu freestyle wrestling started today Ali Rezaei and Ali Karampour are wrestling at 74kg Rezaei had more success, beating Yahya Thomas (USA) 3-2 and James Green (USA) 8-4 to reach the finals Karampour teched the 2025 U20 world silver but then got pinned by Quincy Monday (USA), who will wrestle Rezaei in the 74kg final Babaloo also reached the final at 97kg, beating a few mid level Turkish wrestlers and beating fellow Iranian 97kg prospect Alizadeh 9-1 (Alizadeh randomly broke his toe or something and had to injury forfeit with a minute left)

Dabir is an Iranian wrestling legend regardless of political views. Babak is a pretty funny vote though. Might as well vote for Eric Orlawski.

why would he take over Dabir? lol. he's a good journalist but he's an American citizen and doesn't live in Iran, and didn't have a wrestling career for Iran. Dabir is an Olympic and World champion. it's a strange comparison, to be honest.

everyone is a geopolitical commentator on Iran these days he does not live in Iran

he would be giving up a lot of advantages to move to 74. no reason to move up before 2028. he's only be 26 then. maybe after.

i think it's much too early to be talking about 2032 how many times have we had a promising junior world champion fizzle out in the senior stage?

the U23 world champ 125kg kid will be there, he's only 18-19 and a good prospect to replace Masoumi.

Azarpira doesn't wrestle like DT at all so it's not very helpful for him I remember every one of their matches. Unfortunately. By the final two matches Yazdani wasn't even leading after the first period, that's when we knew DT had him totally figured out (again). But at least Yazdani (1) has his Olympic gold from 2016 and (2) beat DT (once). These facts help his legacy a lot.

Ghasempour doesn't have a choice. He tried to move up to 97kg and quickly realised that was a terrible idea. He already has two world titles at 92kg. The only thing he is missing is an Olympic medal, and his only path to the Olympics is at 86kg. He could pick up an Olympic Bronze on last year's performance at 86kg. I don't think Azarpira beating Yazdani would be that big of an upset. Azarpira has a significantly bigger frame but still needs to trust his leg attacks more and work on his cardio. Yazdani had two pretty easy matches so far, let's see how he does against the likes of Azarpira, Snyder, Kurbanov, Yoshida, Tazhudinov, Sadulaev, Aitmukhan.

Ghasempour has to stay at 86 if he wants to make the Olympics. But increasingly looking like it will be Rahmani in 2028, although he is also very inconsistent. Firouzpour had his chance and kinda flopped unfortunately. Of that entire group of 86-97kg wrestlers, Azarpira and Yazdani are the best two. We really need them both in the team

Azarpira is already up there with the best at 97. I really doubt Yazdani will be materially better than Azarpira at 97kg so I don't like the idea of wasting one of Yazdani or Azarpira when they could both easily fit into the team. Goleij lost to Bazri twice (then beat him once) recently, not sure what level he is really at these days and I don't get too excited by Yazdani beating him with two step outs and two passivity points. Nothing about his game seems to have changed. But maybe it doesn't need to and I am underestimating him, even at 30 years old and up at 97kg when he started his senior career at 70kg.

I really hope someone can convince Yazdani to drop to 92 for 2026. He could easily make 92 and it would be a nice stepping stone before he moves up to 97. And this way we keep Azarpira in the team at 97 and fill a hole at 92 with two of our best wrestlers. But probably not going to happen. 86 is a bigger problem with Ghasempour's recent performances. I'm not sure if it's a decline or if this is just his level. He won world titles at a relatively weak non-Olympic weight class. Moving up to 97 was a mistake as it meant he then had to cut all the way back down to 86, which never goes well. 86 - Ghasempour, Rahmani 92 - Azimi, Firouzpour (Azimi seems to have his number and is 2 years younger, though he did weirdly lose to Rahmani) 97 - Azarpira, Yazdani

Nice summary. By contrast, the US MFS team is full of young studs. Jax Forrest, David Carr, Levi Haines, Trent Hidlay, Wyatt Hendrickson. With others in the wings (Shapiro, Mesenbrink, Lilledahl, etc). Iranian MFS team also has a solid group of young wrestlers (Amouzad 23, Nokhodi 24, Firouzpour 23, Azarpira 23, Zare 24). And more in the wings (Rahmani, Yousefi, Azimi, etc).

No American who medalled in Paris (Spencer Lee silver, Dake bronze, Brooks bronze) went on to medal at worlds this year. And Russians boycotted Paris / were banned. Kiyooka went gold --> silver.

You're right, Esmaeili and Saravi are the only 2024 Olympic champions who defended their titles in 2025. Of the two, Saravi has the longer win streak, since Esmaeili 'lost' to Sanchez in 2024 just before the Olympics.

Probably an Iranian journalist picked him. He might have the longest win active win streak of any MFS / GR wrestler? 25-0 since 2023 worlds (where he lost 3-0 to Rosillo) per UWW. I really like the relationship he has with Ghasem Rezaei. Both Olympic champions in the same weight class.

He was never going to win, but being the only wrestler nominated is pretty cool.

Hedayati is not going to leave. He beat Yousofi 3-0 and only lost to Mirzazadeh 1*-1 (ironically under the new rules he would have won that match). And Mirzazadeh is a fair bit older than Zare (I think they are 27 and 24). Zare beat Masoumi in pretty one sided fashion 4 times now. Masoumi complained a lot but the reality is he's probably not beating Zare any time soon so he had to leave now if he wanted to compete in 2028.

Iranian Greco-Roman wrestler Mohammad Hadi Saravi has been nominated for the 2025 World’s Best Male Athlete award by the International Sports Press Association (AIPS), placing him among the elite figures of global sport. Saravi’s inclusion on the prestigious shortlist marks a rare and historic achievement for Iranian wrestling. The celebrated champion, who hails from the northern city of Amol, secured his second consecutive world title this year, a feat that significantly strengthened his candidacy for one of the most respected individual honors in international sport. Saravi now stands alongside some of the world’s most prominent sports stars, including Kylian Mbappé, Nikola Jokić, Carlos Alcaraz, Mohamed Salah, Armand Duplantis, Léon Marchand, Luka Dončić, Jannik Sinner, Max Verstappen, and Lando Norris. Each year, AIPS conducts a global poll among sports journalists to select the world’s top athlete. Saravi’s nomination not only highlights his outstanding personal achievements but also once again underscores the prominent position of Iranian wrestling on the global sporting stage. https://wanaen.com/irans-wrestler-hadi-saravi-nominated-for-world-athlete-of-the-year/