92 KG: Men's Freestyle 2019 World Championship Preview

Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo/WrestlersAreWarriors

Now that the field has been released, it’s clear that the race for a 92 kg World title is between two men, returning champion J’den Cox and returning bronze medalist Alireza Karimimachiani.

#3 Sharif Sharifov of Azerbaijan has not entered, nor has #7 Dato Marsagishvili. The depth of Russia, Georgia and Iran has created substantial separation in the field. Only three members of the top 10 are entered according to TFS International Men’s Freestyle Rankings.

Top UWW Seeds

Seeds are determined by points earned by winning bouts at United World Wrestling’s Ranking Series events, held throughout the year. The one and four seed will be on one side of the bracket, the two and three on the other. At the top are:

#1: J’den COX (USA)

#2: Alireza Mohammad KARIMIMACHIANI (IRI)

#3: Ivan YANKOUSKI (BLR)

#4: Irakli MTSITURI (GEO)

While these seeds are important for bracket structure, they do not necessarily reflect the actual standings of talent in the world. We’ll be referencing The Fight Site’s international rankings, compiled by Seth Petarra.

Title Contenders

At the 2018 World Championship, J’den Cox defeated #7 Dato Marsagishvili, #2 ranked Karimimachiani and then #19 Ivan Yankouski for his first World gold. After bronze medal performances at the 2016 Olympics and 2017 World Championship, Cox was finally able to break through. The Missouri native was a four-time NCAA Division 1 All-American and a three-time national champion for the Tigers, To make the Olympic and World team, Cox earned two victories each over World champions David Taylor and Kyle Dake.

Cox is on a serious undefeated streak, his last loss coming in April of 2018 at the World Cup.

On the other side of the bracket is Iranian powerhouse Alireza Karimimachiani. The 2014 Junior World champion came out hot in his transition to seniors, winning the 2015 Asian Championship before taking 2015 World bronze. For a short time, it appeared Karimimachiani lost a step, but he rebounded in 2018 in a big way. He won 2018 Yasar Dogu silver, a 2018 Asian Games championship, then beat #3 Sharifov, #8 Tsakulov, and teched #7 Marsagishvili for bronze at the 2018 World Championship.

In 2019, Karimimachiani won an Asian championship, and the City of Sassari tournament.

Cox has made one major appearance in 2019, winning the Yasar Dogu.

Medal Contenders

92 kg is a weight short on serious threats.

The highest ranked athlete entered for Nur-Sultan outside of Cox and Karimimachiani is #4 Alikhan Zhabrailov of Russia. Zhabrailov has had a big 2019, only losing to #3 Sharifov at the Ali Aliev tournament before going on to win a 2019 Russian National championship over #6 Kurbanov. If any competitor is poised to challenge Cox and Karimimachiani, the Russian is one to watch.

Dagestan native #11 Shamil Zubairov will be representing Azerbaijan instead of Sharif Sharifov. A 2018 U23 World champion, Zubairov took bronze at the 2019 Yasar Dogu as a senior. Worthy of note is that Zubairov defeated the four-seed, #12 Irakli Mtsituri in August, his second major win over the Georgian.

Mtsituri is certainly in the mix, but he’s likely a tier below Zubairov and Zhabrailov. He was defeated in the 2018 U23 European Championship final by Zubairov, then did not place at the 2018 Ziolkowski. At the 2018 U23 World Championship, he defeated #18 Shahbazigazvar but lost to #17 Sotiev, taking 5th.

In 2019, Mtsituri won silver at the 2019 Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov tournament, losing to #6 Kurbanov in the final. However, he defeated Kurbanov at the 2019 European Championship, only losing to Sharifov.

#19 Ivan Yankouski, the returning silver medalist, is worth a mention. In 2018 Yankouski earned bronze the Yasar Dogu, only losing to Karimimachiani, albeit by technical fall. In hindsight, Yankouski’s run to the World finals is less significant, considering he did not earn a win over any of the current top 20.

Yankouski has had an up and down 2019, failing to place at the Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov up at 97 kg, taking 5th at the Ali Aliev, did not place at the City of Sassari tournament back at 97, then reaching the Medved finals where he lost to #17 Sotiev.