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 92 kg weight class at the 2023 World Championships.

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92 kg World Championship Rankings 

Check out the top 10 wrestlers ranked at 92 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

Iran’s two-time world champ Kamran Ghasempour is out as the 92 kg rep this year due to injury. Despite Ghasempour's injury, Iran is fortunate to have one of the best 92 kg wrestlers in the world as their backup - Amirali Azarpira who should be considered the favorite to win 92 kg. At only 21 years old, Azarpira is one of Iran’s best young wrestlers and is a two-time U23 World champion at 97 kg (2021 and 2022). 

Azarpira dropped to 92 kg in July, defeating 2023 world medalist Miriani Maisuradze and Team USA’s Zahid Valencia (6-3). Prior to dropping in weight, Azarpira had impressive results at 97 kg. At the World Cup in December 2022, Azarpira defeated 2022 World Silver medalist Batyrbek Tsakulov, 10-0. Then, just over a month later, Azarpira lost a close, 3-0 match in the finals of the Zagreb Open. Like Kurbanov, Azarpira is plenty big for 92 kg and will be a favorite to reach the finals in Serbia. 

Azarpira’s win over Zahid Valencia:

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The Contenders

Zahid Valencia made the most of his opportunity at 92kg after falling short in the US Open finals against Aaron Brooks at 86kg. Valencia made Final X with a 12-1 tech fall over Kollin Moore in the finals of the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament. Then, at Final X, Valencia won two controlling decisions over Mike Macchiavello (8-0 and 9-2) to make the world team. Despite coming up just short against Azarpira, Valencia’s high-powered offense will pose a threat to everyone in the world at 92kg making him a dangerous contender in this bracket.

Zahid Valencia's win over 2022 World Medalist Miriani Maisuradze:

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Russia's Vladislav Valiev is one of the most established veterans in this weight and is coming off an impressive performance to win the 2023 Russian Nationals. Valiev was a bronze medalist at the 2017 world championships down at 86 kg. However, for the past few years, Valiev has been behind Artur Naifonov at 86 kg and chose to move up to 92 kg. Valiev will be a bit undersized but will be able to make up for that with his wrestling ability. 

Valiev's win in the finals of the 2023 Russian Nationals:

Both Miriani Maisuradze and Osman Nurmagoedov (AZE) were the two bronze winners at last year’s world championships and will be contenders once again this year. Since worlds, Nuramagomedov has had slightly better results than Maisuradze. Nurmagomedov went 3-0 at the 2022 World Cup by defeating Maisuradze (3-0), U20 World Champ Amir Firouzpour (10-10), and Japan’s Satoshi Miura. Beyond that, Nurmagomedov won bronze at the Zagreb Open this past February and silver at the European Championships. In those 2 tournaments, Nurmagomedov lost only to Kollin Moore (8-3) and Feyzullah Akturk (5-2).

Nurmagomedov's win for bronze at the 2022 World Championships:

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Maisuradze hasn’t had terrible results in 2023 but some of his losses prove he’s not a gold medal threat. Not only did Maisuradze lose to Nurmagomedov at the World Cup, but he also lost 10-4 to Nathan Jackson. Then, Maisuradze lost in back-to-back tournaments to Kollin Moore at the Zagreb Open and Ibrahim Moustafa in February. Maisuradze then won a bronze medal at the European Championships losing only to Feyzullah Akturk (11-1). Maisuradze won the Ranking Series Tournament in Kyrgyzstan in June but then placed 5th at the Budapest Ranking Series Tournament where he lost to Zahid Valencia (5-3) and Amirali Azarpira (11-0).

Maisuradze's win for bronze at the 2022 World Championships:

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If you’ve been following closely, you noticed in the above paragraphs that Türkiye’s Feyzullah Akturk has wins over both Osman Nurmagomedov (5-2) and Miriani Maisuradze (11-1) this year. Akturk defeated both on his way to a gold medal performance at this year’s European Championships. Along with the European title, Akturk also won a bronze medal at both the 2022 U23 World Championships and the Egypt Ranking Series tournament. Akturk’s losses in those tournaments came against Nathan Jackson (in Egypt) and Amir Firouzpur (at U23 Worlds). Akturk hasn't won a senior world medal yet but his results prove he could be poised to get on the podium in Belgrade.

Akturk's win over Nurmagomedov in the 2023 European Championship Finals:

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Sleepers & Dark Horses

With so many wrestlers in the “Favorites” and “Contenders” categories, there are only two wrestlers worth highlighting as "Sleepers and Dark Horses" - Arash Yoshida (JPN) and Rizabek Aitmukhan (KAZ). Yoshida is only 19 years old and won an Asian Gold medal this year by defeating notable opponents in Arashk Mohebi (IRI), Gankhuyag Ganbaatar (MGL), and the aforementioned Aitmukhan. Japan isn’t known for its upper weights however Yoshida’s father is an Iranian who moved to Japan where he's run a wrestling club since Yoshida was a child. Yoshida’s style mimics the classic Iranian high-pace and pressure style. This will be Yoshida’s first world championships at any age level and it will be fascinating to see him against the rest of this field. 

Yoshida's win over Aitmukhan in the finals of the 2023 Asian Championships:

Rizabek Aitmukhan is also only 19 years old and is coming off a silver medal performance at the U20 World Championships last month. There, Aitmukhan dominated his way to the finals before losing to one of Iran’s best young prospects Mohammadmobin Azimi, 5-4. Along with the success at U20 Worlds, Aitmukhan won a silver medal at the Asian Championships and placed 5th at U23 Worlds last year. Aitmukhan might not be a favorite to bring home any hardware from Serbia this year but he could shock some of the more established veterans in this field.

92 kg 2023 Worlds Predictions

Amirali Azarpira has the size and wrestling ability that is the perfect combination to win gold in Serbia. Coming down from 97 kg, he will be much bigger than Zahid Valencia and his ability to hold position and handfight might be too much for Valencia to match. For that reason, Azarpira is my pick to win gold over Valencia in a close match.

92 kg Medal Predictions:

Gold - Amirali Azarpira, IRI

Silver - Feyzullah Akturk, TUR

Bronze - Zahid Valencia

Bronze - Miriani Maisuradze, GEO