It's possible one of the most powerful men in wrestling is on his way out of the sport's top body in his country.



On the heels of a bombshell dropped last week by FloWrestling implicating United World Wrestling referees in an Olympic corruption scandal, Mikhail Mamiashvili indicated he may not run again for president of the Russian wrestling federation. He also responded to the article by saying he had no comment and that the findings should be turned over to independent professionals.

He has been the head of PBS (as it is translated into English) since 1997, making him the most powerful man in what is undoubtedly the most successful country in international wrestling. The PBS executive committee decided that an election would be held on November 12th to determine who will be the president.

A potential decision by Mamiashvhili to keep himself out of the running could also be a result of his allegedly punching a female wrestler after her Olympic bronze medal match. Or it could be his response to the state-sponsored doping scandal that rocked not just wrestling, but the entire Ministry of Sport in Russia.

This spurred a series of reports, not just from Flo, but also by other media organizations as well, breaking down his questionable past.

If Mamiashvili does not run, he would still hold a great deal of power within both Russia and the wrestling community. He has been on the Russian Olympic Committee since 2000 and was elected to FILA's executive committee in 1997, and he is still on now that it is UWW.

It is not clear if he will be leaving the UWW board, though he did respond to the article about the corruption within the refereeing body. He is also reportedly under investigation by the UWW ethics committee.