The 2023 Senior World Championships are set to go down in Belgrade, Serbia, September 16-24. The men’s freestyle portion of the tournament will take place from September 16-19. Check out the below article for a complete breakdown with predictions for the 70 kg weight class at the 2023 World Championships.

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70 kg World Championship Ranking

Check out the top 10 wrestlers ranked at 70 kg who will compete at the 2023 World Championships. These rankings are based on head-to-head results between these competitors.

View all of our 2023 World Championship Rankings here.

The Favorite

Zain Retherford makes his way to his second straight world championships at 70 kg after winning world silver last year. Retherford hasn’t lost since his 10-0, 2022 world finals loss to Japan’s Taishi Narikuni. However, Narikuni isn’t in the bracket this year after attempting, and failing, to make Japan’s Greco-Roman team. That means Retherford is the favorite to come away with gold at 70 kg this year. 

It’s not just that Narikuni isn’t in the field - Retherford has put together an impressive ledger at 70 kg that has earned him the right to be considered the favorite. In 2022, Retherford compiled a hitlist that included wins over #2 Ramazan Ramazanov, Jordan Oliver (twice), Alec Pantaleo, #14 Syrbaz Talgat, #7 Sanzhar Doszhanov, former world champion Zurabi Iakobishvili, and two-time world 5th Arman Andreasyan. Retherford then dominated his way to Pan-Am gold this past May and won two straight matches over a tough Tyler Berger at Final X. Retherford seems to be getting better and better at 70kg and should be considered the favorite in every match in Belgrade.

Retherford's win over #7 Sanzhar Doszhanov last July:

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The Contenders

There’s a group of 5 wrestlers at 70kg who have proven themselves capable of challenging Retherford for a gold medal. That group consists of - Ramazan Ramazanov (BUL), Ihor Nykyforuk (UKR), Amir Yazdani (IRI), Ernazar Akmataliev (KGZ), and Evgheni Zherbaev (AIN - RUS). This group has traded wins and losses against one another over the past 2 years proving the parity that exists in the 70 kg weight class.

Ramazanov, this year’s European bronze medalist, is a Russian transfer now representing Bulgaria. Beyond that, Ramazanov has wins this year over both Ihor Nykyforuk and Amir Yazdani. However, at last year’s world championships, Ramazanov failed to place after losing to Ernazar Akmataliev, 11-0 in the quarterfinals. 

Ramzanov's win over Ihor Nykyforuk at this year's European Championships:

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Speaking of Akmataliev, he might be the biggest wildcard in this field and has had a wide range of results in his career. Akmataliev is a two-time world medalist winning bronze in 2022 and silver in 2021. He also won a U23 world title in 2021 and has career wins over the likes of Evgheni Zherbaev, Arman Andreasyan, Jaydin Eierman, Giorgi Elbakidze, Ilyas Bekbulatov, Anthony Ashnault, and Sanzhar Doszhanov. However, Akmataliev recently lost to Amr Reda Hussen and Ihor Nykyforuk in July. When Akmataliev is wrestling his best, he can beat anyone in the world but he’s also shown defensive lapses making him a very interesting wrestler to watch in this bracket.

Akmataliev's win over Evgheni Zherbaev in the semifinals of the 2021 World Championships:

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Ukraine’s Ihor Nykyforuk has put together an impressive 2023 which has vaulted him to #3 in our rankings and into the contender category. He won the Budapest Ranking Series event in July highlighted by wins over Joey McKenna, Amr Reda Hussen, and Ernazar Akmataliev. Nykyforuk also won bronze at the European Championships this year losing only to the aforementioned Ramazanov but defeating Georgia’s Giorgi Elbakidze. This will be Nykyforuk’s first senior world championships but he did bring home a bronze medal from the 2019 U23 World Championships proving he’s capable of performing well on big stages.

Nykyforuk's win over Joey McKenna in the finals of the Budapest Ranking Series tournament this July:

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Iran’s Amir Yazdani and Russia’s Evgheni Zherbaev are the final two wrestlers in our contender category and the two wrestlers who have world medals on their ledger. Yazdani won a world silver medal at the 2021 World Championships while wrestling down at 65 kg but hasn’t been as dominate at 70 kg. He has notable wins over James Green, Zurabi Iakobishvili, and Ernazar Akmataliev but has losses this year against Alec Pantaleo, Ramazan Ramazanov, Joey McKenna, and Sanzhar Doszhanov. Yazdani’s results over the past year show just how evenly matched this field is.

Yazdani's win over James Green from February 2022:

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Because Russia has been banned from international competition, we haven’t seen Evgheni Zherbaev against many of the top competitors in this field. At the 2021 World Championships Zherbaev lost a wild, 9-5 match to Ernazar Akmataliev but secured wins over Arman Andreasyan and Syrbaz Talgat. Despite the lack of international results, Zherbaev’s domestic results over the past 2 years cannot be ignored. He defeated world champ David Baev to make the 2021 world team and recently won a loaded 2023 Russian Nationals bracket to make the team this year. Zherbaev is absolutely capable of walking away from Serbia with gold at 70kg.

Zherbaev's in the bronze medal match at the 2021 World Championships:

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Sleepers & Dark Horses

With the contender group being so deep at 70kg, it’s hard to imagine any of the wrestlers in the “sleepers and dark horses” category wrestling their way to the finals. However, there are 3 wrestlers who could pull a few upsets and wrestle their way to a medal match. Those 3 are Giorgi Elbakidze (GEO), Sanzhar Doszhanov (KAZ), and Amr Reda Hussen (EGY). Elbakidze was a U23 World Champion in 2022 highlighted by a win over Amir Yazdani in the finals. While that result is impressive, Elbakidze has since taken losses to Ernazar Akmataliev (3 times), Alec Pantaleo, Ihor Nykyforuk, Haji Aliyev, and Syrbaz Talgat. None of those are bad losses, but it certainly proves Elbakidze is a tier behind some of the other more established wrestlers in this bracket.

Elbakidze's win over Amir Yazdani in the finals of the 2022 U23 World Championships:

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Amr Reda Hussen recently won a bronze medal at the Ranking Series event in Budapest. There, he defeated Ernazar Akmataliev and had a competitive loss to Ihor Nykyforuk. Prior to that tournament, Reda Hussen had competed primarily at 74 kg and doesn’t have many matches against wrestlers in this field. This aspect makes him a dark horse to watch and could result in him surprising some of the favorites.

Reda Hussen's win over Ernazar Akmataliev:

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Kazakhstan’s Sanzhar Doszhanov is the final wrestle to watch out for at 70 kg. Doszhanov won the Asian Championships this year and most recently won a bronze medal at the Budapest Ranking Series Tournament where he lost to Joey McKenna (8-4) but defeated Amir Yazdani. Doszhanov is relatively young, only 23 years old, and this will be his first senior world championship. 

Doszhanov's win over Amir Yazdani:

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70 kg 2023 World Championship Predictions

Zain Retherford is entering the world championships as the favorite to win gold and Retherford is my favorite to come out on top in Serbia. He’s consistently improved during his time on the senior level and, from my perspective, he’s the most complete wrestler in the field. He’ll certainly be in some tight matches throughout the tournament but Retherford has proven he has the ability to defeat anyone in the world at 70 kg. 

70 kg Medal Predictions:

Gold - Zain Retherford, USA

Silver - Ernazar Akmataliev, KGZ

Bronze - Amir Yazdani, IRI

Bronze - Evgheni Zherbaev (AIN - RUS)