Date of competition: Saturday, September 12th

 
USA Wrestler: Jordan Burroughs hit the ground running in 2011 at Beat the Streets with a win over a relatively young and unknown Russian, Aniuar Geduev, and he hasn’t slowed down since. Since that Beat the Streets matchup with Geduev, who will represent Russia at this year's World Championships, Burroughs has only suffered two defeats in 110 bouts along with winning two World titles and an Olympic Gold medal, as well as a World bronze last year. With every world level medal, Burroughs climbs up the ladder of most accomplished USA freestyle wrestlers.

En route to his gold medals at the 2011 World Championships and 2012 Olympic Games, Burroughs defeated Russian superstar Denis Tsargush. Tsargush avenged those losses when he dominated a pretty banged up Burroughs 9-2 at the 2014 championships. In the past Burroughs has gone into championships less than healthy, however that wasn’t the case in 2014.

Unfortunately, in the first round he tweeked his knee and was less than 100% for the rest of the tournament. Burroughs was hoping the Russians would send Tsargush to this year's tournament instead of the National Champion Geduev, but when Geduev won the European Championships he cemented his spot on the team. Now, Burroughs will have to wait for the highly anticipated rematch.

2014 World Placements:
1. Denis Tsargush, Russia
2. Sohsuke Takatani, Japan
3. Jordan Burroughs, USA
3. Livan Lopez Azcuy, Cuba
5. Rustam Dudaev, Ukraine
5. Jumber Kvelashvili, Georgia
7. Rashid Kurbanov, Uzebikistan
8. Ashraf Aliev, Azerbaijan
9. Krystian Brzozowski, Poland
10. Zaur Efendiev, Serbia

Notables that were not pulled into the repechage:
- Gabor Hatos (HUN) was defeated in round 1 by Afrzali Paemami, 5-0. His tournament ended when Paemami failed to make the finals.
- Aliev played a hand in all three not making the repechage. He defeated Afzali Paemami in round 3 putting Hatos out, and Paemami’s tournament ended when Aliev was defeated by Kvelashvili in the quarterfinal. Kvevalshvili failed to make the final putting and end to the chain reaction.
- Reza Afzali Paemami (IRI) lost to Aliev in the middle of this three-link chain.



2013 World Placements:
1. Jordan Burroughs, USA
2. Essadollah Akbarizarinkolaei, Iran
3. Ali Shabanov, Belarus
3. Rashid Kurbanov, Uzbekistan
5. Narasingh Pancham Yadav, India
5. Yakob Makarashvili, Georgia
7. Sohsuke Takatani, Japan
8. Yabrail Hasanov, Azerbaijan
9. Grigor Grigoryan, Armenia
10. Yunierki Blanco Mora, Cuba

Notables that were not pulled into the repechage:
- Kakhaber Khubezhty (RUS) was defeated by Yadav (IND) and Jordan Burroughs sent him to the ice cream stand early by teching Yadav the very next round.

Title Contenders:
Burroughs, USA (UWW No. 1) - 2012 Olympic Champion, 2011and 2013 World Champ, 2014 World Bronze

Geduev, Russia (UWW No. 2) - 2015 Euro Games Gold, 2013 and 2014 Euro Champ, 2013 and 2014 Ivan Yarygin Champ



Medal Contenders:
Hasanov, Azerbaijan (UWW No. 16) - 2015 Euro Games Bronze, 2014 Golden Grand Prix Champ, 2014 Euro Championships Silver

Takatani, Japan (UWW No. 4) - 2014 World Silver

Lopez Azcuy, Cuba (UWW No. 9) - 2013 World Silver, 2011 and 2014 World Bronze, 2012 Olympic Bronze, 2015 Pan Am Games Bronze

Shabanov, Belarus (UWW No. 13) - 2013 World Bronze, 2014 World Bronze (70kg), 2014 Medved Champ, 2015 Medved Bronze

Kurbanov, Uzbekistan (UWW No. 8) - 2013 World Bronze, 2013 Asian Championship Gold, 2014 Asian Championship Bronze (84kg), 2014 Asian Games Gold, 2015 Asian Championship Bronze

Contender Commentary:
There is no shortage of contenders in the medal hunt. However, my two title contenders seem to be way ahead of the rest of the field. Aniuar Geduev has two Euro Golds and two Golds from the prestigious Ivan Yarygin. He has yet to appear at the World Championships because of Russia’s incredible depth. This is the third weight class in a row that Russia is keeping the reigning World Champion at home. The other title contender is Jordan Burroughs, he needs no introduction.

Who does Brock like to win?
I believe Burroughs will continue to climb the ladder in the United States toward becoming the most decorated Freestyler of all-time. A fourth World or Olympic title would leave only John Smith (6) and Bruce Baumgartner (5) ahead of him. When considering the reduction of weight classes and split of the Soviet Union, the debate is certainly real when trying to pick our best ever.

Check out the competion at some of the other weight classes here:
57kg UWW Senior World Championship Preview
61kg UWW Senior World Championship Preview
65kg UWW Senior World Championship Preview
70kg UWW Senior World Championship Preview
86kg UWW Senior World Championship Preview
97kg UWW Senior World Championship Preview
125kg UWW Senior World Championship Preview